January 5, 2008, Just E of Snoqualmie Pass
1/5/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
1983
1
A mellow jaunt with my snowshoeing housemates seemed like a good idea. We moseyed up and skied/moseyed down W/SW facing aspects from ~2800'-5200'. Higher, open aspects had a few inches to a foot of variable powder atop consolidated snow. Tree skiing at the I-90 level had been tree-bombed onto wet snow. Surprisingly good views.
A full depth pit on nearly-open 25 degree W facing aspects showed surprisingly good stability, given the forecast. Faceting above and below what I suspect was the Xmas crust didn't seem to make for a terribly weak layer. While everything above the crust comprised a textbook 2' thick slab, and it would pop nicely when it sheared at the crust, moderately extreme measures were required to cause the shear. A rutschblock cut to the crust saw the slab disintegrate with furious jumping before failure just above the crust occurred. My sense: a slab is there, and ready to go big, but the bonding was just too good, at least where we were.
Minimal instability noted while travelling.
A full depth pit on nearly-open 25 degree W facing aspects showed surprisingly good stability, given the forecast. Faceting above and below what I suspect was the Xmas crust didn't seem to make for a terribly weak layer. While everything above the crust comprised a textbook 2' thick slab, and it would pop nicely when it sheared at the crust, moderately extreme measures were required to cause the shear. A rutschblock cut to the crust saw the slab disintegrate with furious jumping before failure just above the crust occurred. My sense: a slab is there, and ready to go big, but the bonding was just too good, at least where we were.
Minimal instability noted while travelling.
Dug a pit just above Milwaukee Bowl at Hyak yesterday. About 3800 ft, facing East/South East in the trees.
320cm in depth. There is a rain crust at 120cm which is where our column failed during the shovel test at 15 taps. Snow above was softer, four fingers. The snow below the rain crust was denser, about two fingers. At the bottom of the pit, roughly 15cm there is another rain layer. Things are starting to settle down, however I believe that the rain crust at 120cm will come back to haunt us at some point.
320cm in depth. There is a rain crust at 120cm which is where our column failed during the shovel test at 15 taps. Snow above was softer, four fingers. The snow below the rain crust was denser, about two fingers. At the bottom of the pit, roughly 15cm there is another rain layer. Things are starting to settle down, however I believe that the rain crust at 120cm will come back to haunt us at some point.
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