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March, 17, 2016, Tatoosh

3/17/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3668
6
Posted by TDB on 3/18/16 2:47am
Beautiful sunny day, a bit windy. Dry consolidated powder below the tree line, wind scoured above. Lots of wind transport occurring throughout the day. Skied north facing slopes. Triggered a small wind slab with a ski cut. Very reactive, slab shattered like glass as soon as the ski tips touched it. This occurred below the tree line. Be on the lookout for localized wind slabs.

Thanks for the report.
How thick was the windslab?

Probably about 16" at the thickest.

Skied the standard routes down from the Castle today (3/18).  Very windy (+30 out of the east).  The wind slab was surprisingly unreactive on the N aspects I skied, nor was there as much transport as I would have expected.  I think the melt/freeze from sunny wx from yesterday reduced available snow for transport today.

author=Lintermans link=topic=36049.msg147199#msg147199 date=1458346599]
Skied the standard routes down from the Castle today (3/18).  Very windy (+30 out of the east).  The wind slab was surprisingly unreactive on the N aspects I skied, nor was there as much transport as I would have expected.  I think the melt/freeze from sunny wx from yesterday reduced available snow for transport today.


Ditto that (3/17). Solo go. I got two runs down the front side chutes from the Castle. Amazingly consolidated on all aspects apparently from the melt/freeze and shifting high winds/directions. Very little wind transport was evident due to consolidation. Strange to be out on a bb day with high winds and decent snow.

TDB- Was that wind slab on the frontside apron of Pinnacle?  I saw someone climbing toward the pass that day. Maybe it was you. I didn't have the energy to wrap around there. Figured it'd be great snow, but if anything was going to slide, thought it'd be that area/aspect.

Almost everything was very stable, but I could see chalky pillows hanging out in some of the steepish fun chutes. Surprised you didn't notice wind transport as we had to occasionally re-break trail on our skin track between laps.

Here's the pic of the slide, it originated where marked:

author=TDB link=topic=36049.msg147314#msg147314 date=1458666667]
Almost everything was very stable, but I could see chalky pillows hanging out in some of the steepish fun chutes. Surprised you didn't notice wind transport as we had to occasionally re-break trail on our skin track between laps.

Here's the pic of the slide, it originated where marked:


Good ol' convexities.  Definitely some wind transport but not like what is typically exhibited. From what I observed, the melt/freeze and weather through some interesting variables into the common interpretation/risk of wind transport. Tracks were getting somewhat filled in by sustained wind but not enough for me to worry of danger. There's always of course trouble areas; that spot looks like a convexity. Thanks for the info and feedback.

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march-17-2016-tatoosh
TDB
2016-03-18 09:47:33