Feb 14, 2018, Hyak - Early Morning- Fluff on crust
2/14/18
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3248
6
Not a back country report, but we still earned it. ;)
Left Seattle at 4am this morning and headed to Hyak for a quick lap before work.
I had to chain up to get up the pass. Parking lot at Hyak was deep but I was able to park up front. (I drive a ford focus)
We started skinning just before 6am and headed up Hyak face. On the steep sections we tried to do some side hilling but the snow was not bonding well to the crust. We found it easier to just climb straight up rather than fight the loose snow.
We rode down Hidden Valley off the back and skinned back up Solitude. The snow on the back was ok. Heavy but rideable.
The Hyak Face rode pretty well given the crust under the new snow. (Crust was not breaking)
Just passing this along in the event others are looking to go out in the surround areas.
Left Seattle at 4am this morning and headed to Hyak for a quick lap before work.
I had to chain up to get up the pass. Parking lot at Hyak was deep but I was able to park up front. (I drive a ford focus)
We started skinning just before 6am and headed up Hyak face. On the steep sections we tried to do some side hilling but the snow was not bonding well to the crust. We found it easier to just climb straight up rather than fight the loose snow.
We rode down Hidden Valley off the back and skinned back up Solitude. The snow on the back was ok. Heavy but rideable.
The Hyak Face rode pretty well given the crust under the new snow. (Crust was not breaking)
Just passing this along in the event others are looking to go out in the surround areas.
author=jbmccrar link=topic=39681.msg159823#msg159823 date=1518650519]
Not a back country report, but we still earned it. ;)
We started skinning just before 6am and headed up Hyak face. On the steep sections we tried to do some side hilling but the snow was not bonding well to the crust. We found it easier to just climb straight up rather than fight the loose snow.
Thanks for the skin track. It saw a lot of use today. Really didn't add much new snow throughout the day as forecasted. Just showery.
Haha. You're welcome. Thanks for the info!
Thanks for the report :)!
I was there from late morning into mid afternoon. Chose to ascend via one of the blue runs that tops out at the Rampart chair instead of on the face, as I figured the tracks up the face would all be steep at points even for the high lifters, and that I'd see few to no people out along the blue runs. I took one run down Hidden Valley around 12:30 and the little sunbreaks had already done their work there - it was wet heavy snow. Did three more laps on the front side - two on said blue run that I had climbed (fun turns on the steeper bits but the heavy-ish snow on the flatter bits made for straightlining) and one under the Rampart Chair which no one had skied all day - more crust contact there but I had fun by stringing together lower angled fall lines back and forth under the chair, down to the cat track an back to the car on very hard fresh groomed. There was some cracking of snow and sliding on little steep rollovers particularly up high under the Rampart chair but I didn't test any larger steep slopes. Ended up wishing I'd gone elsewhere nearby to ascend mellow slopes up to significantly higher elevation, in a spot where I could mostly follow "green/blue" type open slopes back down (I'm not a fan of skiing steep slopes when we only have 6-10" on top of walkable crust even if it's stable, as it feels more like skiing crust than powder...) with some colder snow, but as usual Hyak offered a very efficient workout and some nice views as the clouds broke open a bit later in the day.
We may have got a glimpse of you Jim. Too bad we didn't get a chance to talk. Noticed your skin track. Those skied nicely, too. My teles didn't scrape on the lower angle stuff when pointed down.
Yes, would have liked to have made the connection in person. With careful edging I didn't even get to much crust contact on a moderate line down the Rampart chair.
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