April 18, 2008, North Slope Chair Pk.
4/18/08
WA Snoqualmie Pass
4343
1
Here's the short and dirty:
The good:
Four inches of new by the time we left at 2:30.
Snowing hard.
The crust bridging the saturated crud was firm above from about 4600 feet and higher on the three aspects we hit N,E, and S.
Never went above freezing.
Not much wind effect for the amount of wind we faced.
The not so good:
Couldn't see anything above the Snow Lake Saddle, light was flat and near impossible to see where snow met air.
Below 4600 feet the mank was really challenging and deep even with four inches of new snow on top. The snow did not have time to refreeze after the recent warming.
The mank could be up to 24" pole depth (with force, not exaggerating) so the wet snow slide cycle will be back with the next warming, I suspect.
Death cookies and/or slide debris are plentiful, as in what we could see of Bryant couloir, Chair's south slope, Alpental BC.
The tour:
TJ B. came down from L-worth to meet me in Roslyn at 9:00 AM. Out of the lot, a short tour starting at Alpental and heading to the Snow Lake saddle (pic. 1). We then turned north and skirted around and on top of the lower East Ridge of Chair Peak to access the north slopes. Unfortunately we missed our only brief cloud lifting while eating lunch at 5400 feet (pic. 2 trying to wait it out, the pizza tasted better than his expression). So we were forced to return the way we came on account of the near zero visibility. First turns along the East Ridge were on firm crust and kind of enjoyable "Braille" skiing attempting to locate our skin track. Then back into the mank on down to Snow Lake (Pic 3, typical visibility). On gentler slopes I found the mank to be manageable by mostly staying directly in the fall line. My old tele habits challenged me, upon their return, when in steeper mank. Then back up to the saddle and finding one last short enjoyable run back to Source Lake on the gentlest route we could find. No day in the mountains is a bad one, it was great to be back up the Source Lake valley, and to see TJ again.
The good:
Four inches of new by the time we left at 2:30.
Snowing hard.
The crust bridging the saturated crud was firm above from about 4600 feet and higher on the three aspects we hit N,E, and S.
Never went above freezing.
Not much wind effect for the amount of wind we faced.
The not so good:
Couldn't see anything above the Snow Lake Saddle, light was flat and near impossible to see where snow met air.
Below 4600 feet the mank was really challenging and deep even with four inches of new snow on top. The snow did not have time to refreeze after the recent warming.
The mank could be up to 24" pole depth (with force, not exaggerating) so the wet snow slide cycle will be back with the next warming, I suspect.
Death cookies and/or slide debris are plentiful, as in what we could see of Bryant couloir, Chair's south slope, Alpental BC.
The tour:
TJ B. came down from L-worth to meet me in Roslyn at 9:00 AM. Out of the lot, a short tour starting at Alpental and heading to the Snow Lake saddle (pic. 1). We then turned north and skirted around and on top of the lower East Ridge of Chair Peak to access the north slopes. Unfortunately we missed our only brief cloud lifting while eating lunch at 5400 feet (pic. 2 trying to wait it out, the pizza tasted better than his expression). So we were forced to return the way we came on account of the near zero visibility. First turns along the East Ridge were on firm crust and kind of enjoyable "Braille" skiing attempting to locate our skin track. Then back into the mank on down to Snow Lake (Pic 3, typical visibility). On gentler slopes I found the mank to be manageable by mostly staying directly in the fall line. My old tele habits challenged me, upon their return, when in steeper mank. Then back up to the saddle and finding one last short enjoyable run back to Source Lake on the gentlest route we could find. No day in the mountains is a bad one, it was great to be back up the Source Lake valley, and to see TJ again.
I was driving over the pass last night around 9PM and it was raining up there so I suspect that under all that new snow is a lot of wet stuff making for alot of the mank you were seeing today.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: