February 10, 2019, near Stevens Pass
2/10/19
WA Stevens Pass
1437
3
NW facing slopes 4400'-5200'. Similar to reports for Snoqualimie and other areas, Friday's snow fell on unbreakable ice crust. Powder was 6" deep with wind deposits as deep as 10" in some areas. Mostly loose, dry snow that stayed "fresh" due to temperatures in the teens. In some isolated areas, the snow developed a weak slab. When broken, the weak slab would not propagate and did not slide.
On slopes of 30(+/-) degrees, ski edges sank to the icy layer and chattered around turns. Not as much fun as we had hoped. In contrast, it was very fun on low angle slopes where skis remained on powder through turns.
On slopes of 30(+/-) degrees, ski edges sank to the icy layer and chattered around turns. Not as much fun as we had hoped. In contrast, it was very fun on low angle slopes where skis remained on powder through turns.
That unbreakable crust sounds nasty. I saw a photo of a friend going uphill to ski powder and he had boot crampons on his feet!
We went up smithbrook road sunday. Same stuff. 4-6" of light fluff on hard ice crust. I', sure today would have been very different after 12" of new.
Not necessarily. Yesterday's light snow still had me hitting bottom.
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