December 17, 2006, Source Lake vicinity

Another day of touring around at Snoqualmie.    Originally had hopes of doing the chair peak circumnav, but the steep slope below Bryant to access the bench which leads around to Bryant-Chair col wasn't looking too safe, so we scratched that plan and just opted for as many runs as we could manage in the source lake and chair pk. vicinity.

Fairly significant layer of graupel mainly at the surface of the snowpack below 4800ft, but above that elevation there is new snow resting on the graupel  (depth of new snow varies widely from a few inches to more than a foot depending on wind transport)

Just below the slope that leads to Bryant-Chair col there was a crown that ran maybe 100 yards (looked like it was several days old), but in order to get to B-C col we would've had to climb above the crown. 

New snow on the graupel layer failed at 3 taps from the wrist in a test column, and the interface between last weekend's crust and the new snow since then failed at the second tap from the elbow.  This column was on a 30 degree northeast facing slope, so I guess that the test results would've been slightly worse if on a steeper slope.   

The steeper more aesthetic lines taunted me all day, but fortunately the good quality snow made for a fun day of turns. Views all the way to glacier peak and the Overcoat-Lemah group were beautiful.