January 14, 2018, Blewett Area, Diamond Head East

The good news is that the Blewett Pass area received enough snow in the recent storm to cover up most of the undergrowth and rocks. This snow is heavy and wet, great makings for a base layer. We toured up from Tronson Meadows Parking area and made our way to the peak just east of Diamond Head, aka Windy Knob. It was cloudy and foggy at the TH, just above freezing. We broke above the clouds at around 5000'. Views were magnificent toward Stuart and the Enchantments and all the way to Rainier. Above the cloud deck, the radiative cooling overnight caused a 1-2" crust to form, with 1cm of hoar frost on top. Below the cloud line though the snow was a heavy isothermal mush. The skiing was best on the crust where it was still supportive in the shadows. Sunny slopes were very sticky. Skiing lower down in the foggy trees was fairly heinous due to the heavy mank.