TR: Head n' Shoulders, Crustal BC 2/8, Friday...

Mother Nature must have switched dandruff shampoos because the past few weeks, the flakes have been piling up.  I can't recall too many times when White, Stevens and Snoqualmie Passes were so frequently closed.  Even Baker fell victim to closure today, Saturday.

The backcountry has been epic thus far.  The trail breaking, not so epic.  Neither are the avalanche conditions.  It has really put the limit on the amount of venturing.

Yesterday, Friday, I opted for solo tour in the Crystal BC.  The snow was falling as graupel as I started skinning by 8am.  After an inch or so it turned to snow.  Snow had that settling feeling that is typical after weeks of big dumps of various layered snow.  It dumped all day and not a soul back here but myself.  I love days like these.  I compare it to being at the beach and having these perfects sets all to yourself.  A sort of re-discovery of ones self.  Sure breaking trail alone in boot to thigh deep snow is long and arduous but IMO it's well worth it.  After 2 and half hours I found myself on top of East Peak.  Visibility across the valley was zero.  Visibility below me was manageable in a sense that it didn't slow you down.  However, wind lips can blend in so well.  Glad that the snow was deep enough to lean back without hitting anything.

There were pockets of instability here and there that if caught in, could be a reason for concern due to tree wells and terrain traps.  Nothing widespread like shooting cracks or big whomfs.  The sluff ran fast on any terrain steeper than 30 degrees.  That was evident on the skin back up.  With the winds help, my skin track had accumulated around 4 inches of snow between laps.  Winds were generally mild and tolerable with just a wicking layer while ascending.  Btw, on deep days stepping off your board is always a mystery.  Today I only sank up my knee to thigh.  By the end of the day I was up to my waist and the snow kept dumping.

On my 4th lap I noticed that my first tracks were nearly gone.  On the way out my up-track was nearly gone, filled with a foot plus of new snow.  I almost came to a stop but just before I did, the pitch steepened.  Instead of taking the groomers out, I skinned to steeper tree slot.  I was only able to take a few turns.  It was deep today.

By the end of the day the snow was getting a bit moist.  I returned to my car to find the snow up to my door bottom of my suv.  Plenty of cars just spinning out in the lot as I left.

Anyways a trip report is ALMOST worthless without pics right?  Here are some from last weekend from the same area.  It was almost this deep.  But wait, who knows how deep it will be on Sunday when those temps dip back down?

I took this pic of Eli.  He's over 6 ft.  Yup it's deep...


Eli took these pics of me capturing my spirit...



here comes the rooster...



This is just plain ridiculous...