January 1, 2018, Snoqualmie Pass

We tried to take our own advice and go on a lower-angle ramble, but aspirations for views and a summit took us higher. We met hiker-friend David in the parking lot, and found we shared an objective. So, speedy David got to watch us take skis for a walk.

We did a variation on a route I did in early November. Coverage was roughly the same in spatial extent -- skinnable/skiable snowline is somewhere 3200-3600' west of the Pass.

Despite the sun, essentially all of our ascent was by boot, thanks to the icy and almost-supportable crust.

Weather: Windy at I-90, light/calm winds up high. Full sun by morning, filtered sun at noon, full sun in the afternoon.

Snow: Largely scoured crust, but some soft snow could be found on slopes sheltered from E,S, and W winds and the sun. On solar slopes after noon, the raincrust had begun to soften into proto-corn and softer snow ran as small pinwheels.

Avalanche: Tiny windslab in spots, increasingly supportable. Plenty of debris around from the natural event a few days ago.