Dec 7, 2012, Alpental
12/7/12
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2988
10
Quite a bit of new dense snow has fallen in the last 24hr up there, trail breaking this morning was arduous taking nearly double the normal time. I let three other fellows take over the trail breaking duties near the top of chair one and spun a lap on the lower hill to maximize the morning turns. Surfy dense snow down low with about 18" of ski pen, momentum is your friend. Still lots of holes/streams to navigate.
Spoke briefly with the patrol before heading up again- this weekend is the last one for unabated uphill traffic at Alpental. The wind was blowing fairly stiff above chair one and there was evidence of a surface slab ~4-6" sluff at the choke in Rollen,the wind doing its best to erase the trail. The other three guys began down Nash but turned around because of more surface slab that continued to run on them. Ran into a buddy helping the patrol shovel out the top of 2 and we dropped Nash. No slab for us but the main of Upper had already gone natural ~150 wide running about 500 ft down Upper I. Please exercise good judgement when assessing you lines, and assume instabilities will occur. Despite poor visibility, we had excellent skiing all the way to the flats on lower I, but it's now pretty heavy below that.
Back at the maintenance lot there were now ~25 cars and a Conga line of skiers heading up the hill.
Spoke briefly with the patrol before heading up again- this weekend is the last one for unabated uphill traffic at Alpental. The wind was blowing fairly stiff above chair one and there was evidence of a surface slab ~4-6" sluff at the choke in Rollen,the wind doing its best to erase the trail. The other three guys began down Nash but turned around because of more surface slab that continued to run on them. Ran into a buddy helping the patrol shovel out the top of 2 and we dropped Nash. No slab for us but the main of Upper had already gone natural ~150 wide running about 500 ft down Upper I. Please exercise good judgement when assessing you lines, and assume instabilities will occur. Despite poor visibility, we had excellent skiing all the way to the flats on lower I, but it's now pretty heavy below that.
Back at the maintenance lot there were now ~25 cars and a Conga line of skiers heading up the hill.
THanks for the update.
Tomorrow is gonna be a party! ;D
Tomorrow is gonna be a party! ;D
We did 3 laps on the lower conga line, heavy, but good, and getting better as the day got later .
Always a pleasure to meet new people and be able to finally put name to a pair of skis.
I met tele.skier, ski mar, and Kneel Turner. My hat is off to the guy skiing down with his dog on his shoulders. Nice work! Looked like one of the dogs was bleeding, evidence in the skin track, and ALL of them were crapping in the skin track. Come,on, people!
Great day to be out!
Always a pleasure to meet new people and be able to finally put name to a pair of skis.
I met tele.skier, ski mar, and Kneel Turner. My hat is off to the guy skiing down with his dog on his shoulders. Nice work! Looked like one of the dogs was bleeding, evidence in the skin track, and ALL of them were crapping in the skin track. Come,on, people!
Great day to be out!
Hi Mofro
Sounds like a good day of skiing.
Were the conditions similar to Thanksgiving Day? See much instability on Lower I?
I would imagine that most of the holes are filling in nicely and are fewer rock hazards.
Tomorrow will be busy
Sounds like a good day of skiing.
Were the conditions similar to Thanksgiving Day? See much instability on Lower I?
I would imagine that most of the holes are filling in nicely and are fewer rock hazards.
Tomorrow will be busy
There were a lot of people on the hill today.
The crux at Rollen was the choke point for many
(both in terms of making the switchbacks and the delay, due to people waiting their turn to get through).
On the way up (after Mofro but before the conga line) we ran into friends that had taken a look at Nash however opted out. The wind was active on the top of the mountain today, lots of wind transport snow.
We opted to ski an inside line off of the top as well. As Mofro states, choose your descent carefully, lots of dense wind transport over the last two ~ three days accumulation is creating a sensitive snow pack.
Anyone know the person walking down with one ski?
From what I was told he triggered a pocket on upper side slip and went for a ride.
Tour and ski safe out there.
The crux at Rollen was the choke point for many
(both in terms of making the switchbacks and the delay, due to people waiting their turn to get through).
On the way up (after Mofro but before the conga line) we ran into friends that had taken a look at Nash however opted out. The wind was active on the top of the mountain today, lots of wind transport snow.
We opted to ski an inside line off of the top as well. As Mofro states, choose your descent carefully, lots of dense wind transport over the last two ~ three days accumulation is creating a sensitive snow pack.
Anyone know the person walking down with one ski?
From what I was told he triggered a pocket on upper side slip and went for a ride.
Tour and ski safe out there.
i cleaned the super stanker my dog dropped on the trail
author=flowing alpy link=topic=26385.msg111356#msg111356 date=1354927871]
i cleaned the super stanker my dog dropped on the trail
Nice! Blue bag? Were you skiing with your dog on your shoulders?
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=26385.msg111345#msg111345 date=1354917521]
Looked like one of the dogs was bleeding, evidence in the skin track, and ALL of them were crapping in the skin track. Come,on, people!
Great day to be out!
My dog was the one who was bleeding a little bit but it stopped about 1/2 way up. It is only his second day touring this season. And not "ALL" of the dogs took a crap in the skin track. He took a big dump in the parking lot when we got there and I did bag it when I got back down once it cooled off.
I crapped in the skin track.
I thought I smelled something on the way down.
Heard through the grapevine that three people went for a ride in Nash Friday afternoon.
Anyone here know the details
Anyone here know the details
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