Home > Trip Reports > December 4, 2016, Platinum Peak - Crystal Mtn

December 4, 2016, Platinum Peak - Crystal Mtn

12/4/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5192
5
Posted by Edon on 12/4/16 11:46am
Today was one of the best days of splitboarding I've ever had.  The snow was incredibly light, dry, fluffy, and deep.  There was about 2-3' of new snow on top of a decent base.  The snowpack was upright with the heavier stuff below the fresh light new dry stuff.  Hands down the best snow I've ridden in my 8 years in the Pacific Northwest.

Conditions were cold (started at the car ~30F, ended around 20F)!  Up on the ridge things were windy.  Snowing to varying degrees throughout the day, and even got a decent amount of sun in the afternoon.







The face shots were plentiful and glorious.  I've never inhaled so much snow =D





We set off 1 small slough, crown of 8-12" and maybe 20' wide over a wind scoured convex roller (~45 degrees, the run out slope was ~35 degrees), run out of maybe 100'.






Great trip report and it was indeed a PHENOMENAL day on Sunday!

Your track is super helpful. What app is it? I use Gaia but would like to be able to have the caltopo slope angle shading.

What's the difference between a slab and a slough ? Do sloughs have crowns and a bed surface ?  X

author=WillderDude link=topic=37206.msg150976#msg150976 date=1481036432]
Great trip report and it was indeed a PHENOMENAL day on Sunday!

Your track is super helpful. What app is it? I use Gaia but would like to be able to have the caltopo slope angle shading.


Thanks!  I use Backcountry Navigator on Android, but really any app that can export *.gpx files works.  I import the *.gpx file into caltopo and overlay it on the slope shading.

author=SKIER-X link=topic=37206.msg150997#msg150997 date=1481075940]
What's the difference between a slab and a slough ? Do sloughs have crowns and a bed surface ?  X



Slabs are cohesive layers that slide on a bed layer and break up into smaller, cohesive chunks.  Loose, dry slabs break up super quickly.  I didn't see the slide one of my partners set off, but thinking more about it, it'd probably be more appropriate to call it a loose dry slab rather than a slough.  The slough is usually point release and fans out below, whereas the slab can release large areas all at once, which is what this looks like.  All of this is from my understanding at least!

Thanks , that pic looked like a slab , super helpful for you to fill in the blanks . :)  X

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december-4-2016-platinum-peak-crystal-mtn
Edon
2016-12-04 19:46:15