Home > Trip Reports > Dec 14--Snoqualmie - slot condition

Dec 14--Snoqualmie - slot condition

12/14/16
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3637
6
Posted by cumulus on 12/15/16 12:43am
just a quick report - -

found some funky conditions in the slot that had us crawling back out. Set off a shallow wind slab with a ski cut/stomp close to the top, then continued down hoping it was just the top which tends to be more wind effected.
Didn't get much better down lower. We found a fairly consistent 1.5' of cohesive snow on top of less dense more powder-y snow underneath. With the slot widening providing less anchorage and bigger entrainment potential in the event of a fracture we decided to wallow our asses back up and out.


more later

We were in the area too. We noted sensitive wind slabs near ridges on lee slopes, gusts to ~40mph on exposed ridges, some thin solar crusts on steeper south slopes from Mon and Tues. East pass flow was strong and turbulent enough to be coming from multiple directions N - E - S depending on local topography. Still excellent powder on sheltered slopes.

similar experience near bryant.  fairly reactive 25cm windslab on e/ne aspect and recent slide activity. good snow down low

yep-crusty where sun exposed, and good snow down low for sure



Great call pulling out of there as with those conditions, the col coming back out very likely would have been loaded and funky as well.  thanks for the beta!


It was OK today but didn't ski all that great, chalky and chunky.  Phantom was surprisingly awesome even with the sun its had recently but its been so damn cold and possibly with clouds helping too.  It was 9F up top today and great snow but there is certainly hoar growing now which could pose a problem with next snowfall especially if it stays cold.  Beautiful up there this morning.

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2016-12-15 08:43:54