Feb 17, 2008, Chair Basin, Alpental Area

Georgous day on Sunday at the Chair Basin!  I hooked up with Scott, Brad, Joe and Dave through the "Looking for Partner" section, and we had a wonderfull day.  We decided to climb up to the Chair Peak and intended to go down on the north face.  However, the snow was too crusty compared to the south face, which was warmed up by the sun.  After a nice drop in by Joe, we all went down heading towards the Snoqualmie Mountain.  We climbed up as high as the ridge would allow us, and then ski down to the Snow Lake.  The snowpack was mostly a 2 in of new snow on top of consolidated snow stabilised by the warm weather of the last week.  The small layer of relatively new snow released a few times on the steeper slopes.  The ride was smooth, even in the avalanche debris, as long as the sun was there.  At the end of the day, a firm crust formed making the ski a little harder.

Oh ya, as our skins were getting wet, the snow was be pretty sticky sometimes...

Dan