Jan 19, 2008, Snoqualmie Mt., Cave Ridge

Skied from Commonwealth up to Cave Ridge with the goal of getting to the east summit of Snoqualmie.  We expected more of a tour and less of a ski with all the reported crust.  We stopped around 5200 ft with low visibility and headed back down into the basin.  Yes there was quite a bit of crust and difficult skiing up high, but we were delighted to find excellent skiing from about 4800 ft to 4000 ft on East facing slopes.  Would have lapped this shot, had the dog not torn a pad on his front paw and we thought it better to return to the car. 

The snow conditions varied widely from firm and crusty, to death cookies from yesterdays warming, to 6-12 inches of great skiing.  Besides sluffing the new snow on steeper shots, there were no signs of instability. 

Snow bridges over Commonwealth creek are, well, very common.  The commonwealth snowshoe highway was bumper to bumper on the way out however.

More pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/peter.spruance/SnoqualmieCaveRidge011908