December 2, 2010, Hyak
12/2/10
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2052
4
Took two lazy laps on Hyak before heading to work. Brought the clownshoes in order to deal with crusty snow, which seemed to be a good plan.
The freezing-rain crust is pretty thin and soft, even at the base, with ~12-16" of soft stuff under it at all elevations. The crust softened and disintegrated with elevation. The top six turns met my definition of heavy powder, the very bottom was almost trap crust. In the middle in the middle.
Tiny surface hoar at the ridgetop, but I imagine the sun's already nuked it.
They're working toward pulling the lift cable.
This sunny morning spent skiing trap crust was better than sitting at home grumbling about telemetry. I'm optimistic about snow above 4k.
The freezing-rain crust is pretty thin and soft, even at the base, with ~12-16" of soft stuff under it at all elevations. The crust softened and disintegrated with elevation. The top six turns met my definition of heavy powder, the very bottom was almost trap crust. In the middle in the middle.
Tiny surface hoar at the ridgetop, but I imagine the sun's already nuked it.
They're working toward pulling the lift cable.
This sunny morning spent skiing trap crust was better than sitting at home grumbling about telemetry. I'm optimistic about snow above 4k.
Just got back from there as well. We saw you skiing down as we were climbing up. The backside had better overall snow, when you average the nice-ish top 100' feet with the terrible bottom 500' of trap-crust on the frontside.
Took two laps down the back and one down the front. The snow was pretty bad, but we had fun.
Took two laps down the back and one down the front. The snow was pretty bad, but we had fun.
do you just hike from the pkg lot?
author=hyakSS link=topic=18250.msg77320#msg77320 date=1291345214]
do you just hike from the pkg lot?
There's an old thread somewhere with details about when it is and is not ok to skin up Summit areas. Definitely stay out of the way of lift-ops/grooming crews, any downhill traffic. etc. Avoiding injury and not skinning up when they're spinning lifts will go a long way toward maintaining a friendly relationship with the ski area.
It depends somewhat on which area and how busy they are.
Some of the land is privately owned and some is forest service.
My experience at Hyak / Summit East is not being hassled when the lifts aren't running. On Wednesday while we skinning up the front side directly from the parking lot, one of the guys working on the new chairlift stopped on his sled while heading up to work on the top station and in a very friendly manner asked us to avoid skiing directly under the new chairline -- as they were hauling the cable there today.
When the lifts are running, I avoid skinning up the front side -- the traditional (and forest service special use permit designated) route for skinning up around Hyak is the "Nordic Pass" route. This starts from the north end of the Hyak / Summit East parking lot, follows the subdivision road NW for a bit and then takes off through the forest from the end the hairpin turn. This route is marked with blue diamonds and passes by Hyak Lake. I suppose you could then skin up the backside of Mt Hyak -- if you stay off the groomed runs-- if you use the groomed runs you might be asked to show a trail pass for using the groomed nordic center trails.
BTW The nordic center is a money loser for them -- I think they keep operating it inorder to maintain the land the nordic trails are on within the bounds of their specil use permit.
Some of the land is privately owned and some is forest service.
My experience at Hyak / Summit East is not being hassled when the lifts aren't running. On Wednesday while we skinning up the front side directly from the parking lot, one of the guys working on the new chairlift stopped on his sled while heading up to work on the top station and in a very friendly manner asked us to avoid skiing directly under the new chairline -- as they were hauling the cable there today.
When the lifts are running, I avoid skinning up the front side -- the traditional (and forest service special use permit designated) route for skinning up around Hyak is the "Nordic Pass" route. This starts from the north end of the Hyak / Summit East parking lot, follows the subdivision road NW for a bit and then takes off through the forest from the end the hairpin turn. This route is marked with blue diamonds and passes by Hyak Lake. I suppose you could then skin up the backside of Mt Hyak -- if you stay off the groomed runs-- if you use the groomed runs you might be asked to show a trail pass for using the groomed nordic center trails.
BTW The nordic center is a money loser for them -- I think they keep operating it inorder to maintain the land the nordic trails are on within the bounds of their specil use permit.
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