1/20, Snoqualmie area tour
1/20/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
3246
1
We found nice powdery shots from top to bottom, particularly in the open (and even in deep forest up above 5K) where new snow had piled up adequately on the crust. The predicted east wind had not picked up by 2PM when we made our last descent of the day (well worth a bit of lapping today). We decided to stick to more mellow slopes in general simply to avoid bottoming out on the crust on steeper slopes. It was cold so we surprised ourselves at how quickly the tour went, even with the lapping - just brief stops for food and clothes doffing and donning and skin/deskin. I guess slow and steady really can win the race.
Found similar conditions up near the Pass. Light East wind was streaming over our N-S ridge at ~10-15 mph at 2PM. Lapping wasn't an option for us, but I wish (from the bottom of my soul) it had been. Minimal to no instability noted, despite the antics of a number of folks in other parties.
A decidedly non-textbook Rutschblock (small, weighted more in a shearing than weighting action by the skier) failed in a Q2-3 fashion with a little pop ~6-8" at a moderate hop below Monday's crust on what may or may not have been a graupel layer.
If days like today happened all the time, we wouldn't know how good they were.
A decidedly non-textbook Rutschblock (small, weighted more in a shearing than weighting action by the skier) failed in a Q2-3 fashion with a little pop ~6-8" at a moderate hop below Monday's crust on what may or may not have been a graupel layer.
If days like today happened all the time, we wouldn't know how good they were.
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