January 6, 2007, Snoqualmie Pass
1/6/07
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3162
3
Another low expectation day that turned out much better! Between 4000-5000' in mature timber we found 2" graupel (looked like the McDonalds dessert pellets) over 8" dense powder. No precip during the day and wind only on the ridge crest. Very pleasant, first time this season for the midfat skis, and it was much more pleasant than the lightweights would have provided. As Zap would say, fewer face shots with the fatter skis. No cameras in the group today, just trust us. :)
Suprisingly, a good day at the Pass. I was one of the leaders for a Mountaineers Ski and Snowboard course field trip at the old Mountaineers lodge site and it was very pleasant. The ski area was closed due to lack of power so you could tour everywhere. As Silas mentioned, the weather was mild and no wind. We dug pits and on our shovel shear test we found the failure about 12" down at 3400' at a slight rain crust. I was skiing on Friday at Snoqualmie Central until 11am when freezing rain arrived and I departed. Our 2nd failure on the shovel shear test occured at the thick rain crust which happened earlier this week during the downpour. Definitely a good day for the fat boards. Our R-Block failed with repeated jumps at the freezing rain crust from yesterday which was about 12" down and at 3400".
A whole gaggle of us were at Alpy this morning....we threw our backcountry gear in our cars at the last minute in case the lift lines at Alpy were too long we could opt for a tour...as it turns out with the power outage and all, it was a very wise decision to have the bc gear.
From the parking lot we could see the ski patrol setting off slides near shot 8, so we figured it would be best to skin for turns somewhere other than the ski area and give the ski patrol a break....could already tell they were in for a heck of a day trying to do avy control amongst those earning turns inbounds. We ended up at Kendall Stump and found some great snow off the loaded east side. Snow was super deep, could easily push a ski pole all the way down, but the relatively dense powder and graupel skied more solidly than it was....hard to get face shots, but really really fun snow all the same.
Great day up at the pass.
From the parking lot we could see the ski patrol setting off slides near shot 8, so we figured it would be best to skin for turns somewhere other than the ski area and give the ski patrol a break....could already tell they were in for a heck of a day trying to do avy control amongst those earning turns inbounds. We ended up at Kendall Stump and found some great snow off the loaded east side. Snow was super deep, could easily push a ski pole all the way down, but the relatively dense powder and graupel skied more solidly than it was....hard to get face shots, but really really fun snow all the same.
Great day up at the pass.
I was with a party of four. We decided against Kendall and went to Hyak's Silver Fir lift where we discovered we had the hill pretty much to ourselves due to the power outage. Skinned around and up to Nordic Pass, skied down to Nordic Pass, and open slopes nearby where the groomed trails were closed, and back out via trails and ski runs. Veru deep fairly dense powder in the forest 3K to 4K feet elevation in nice calm conditions, nothing sliding (yet). In open areas around Windy Pass there was slabby snow at surface or under 1 to 2 inches of the new snow or graupel others noted. A few small recent slides on open slopes, but not much. The slopes are loaded. It started snowing about 2 PM with not much breeze. The ski area folks must hae been crying with the power out, but we had a good time. Ski runs with untracked lines on a snowy Saturday afternoon! The slopes are loaded with more coming down. Take care in the BC.
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