Dec 14: Hyak AM Patrol
12/15/06
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2120
0
I went out to Hyak this morning with a friend of mine who is new to skiing (a recovering snowboarder) and adventures outside of the controlled areas. I figured that it would be a good morning to ski some mellow terrain and to find some interesting layers in the snowpack. We were right on the latter, but the skiing wasn't so good.
We starting skiing from the parking lot at around 8 and stuck to some small trees on climber's right up next to the chair, then turned right onto the cat track to wind our way up to the top. We dug a hasty pit and found some crust about 8 inches down and another about 24 inches down. Both of them appeared to be pretty well bonded and the surrounding snow was nice increasing density. However, when we did a shovel sheer test, we got a failure about 6 inches down on the fourth tap from the elbow. Continuing on, we got another failure at about 18 inches at the 3rd hit from the shoulder. Neither of these layers were obvious from brush testing. Our pit location wasn't optimal because it wasn't quite as steep as the direct slope down to the base, but the sheers were enough to make me not want to ski it.
We descended down the easy runs to the north of the lift through some heavy fluff.
It was a nice day to get out and play in the snow, just not a great day for skiing. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the constant snowfall. Let's hope for loads of powder and increasing stability!
We starting skiing from the parking lot at around 8 and stuck to some small trees on climber's right up next to the chair, then turned right onto the cat track to wind our way up to the top. We dug a hasty pit and found some crust about 8 inches down and another about 24 inches down. Both of them appeared to be pretty well bonded and the surrounding snow was nice increasing density. However, when we did a shovel sheer test, we got a failure about 6 inches down on the fourth tap from the elbow. Continuing on, we got another failure at about 18 inches at the 3rd hit from the shoulder. Neither of these layers were obvious from brush testing. Our pit location wasn't optimal because it wasn't quite as steep as the direct slope down to the base, but the sheers were enough to make me not want to ski it.
We descended down the easy runs to the north of the lift through some heavy fluff.
It was a nice day to get out and play in the snow, just not a great day for skiing. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the constant snowfall. Let's hope for loads of powder and increasing stability!
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