Feb 8, Tatoosh - Ssscccraping Bottom
2/15/11
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2511
6
Needed up, :-[ Went down, ??? Then up, >:( Then down. :D
Moscawulf and I both needed a psychological lift, and so headed geographically down to the Tatoosh, and climbed up East of the Castle, hoping to find powder to ski down.
The skin up was TUFF. The rain crust was nearly bullet proof in some places. And in all places it lurked under the powder. We found exactly the same conditions at Narada as we found up high. Below the lee slopes the ssscccraping layer was deep under wind deposited snow. On the ridge tops and in the trees, it was right under the surface, ready to slide our skis backwards out from under us. So the strategy became... ssscccrape...Skis off - boot pack for awhile, then skis back on to skin till the next ssscccraping backwards slide.
We headed East from the lower Castle Basin, and entered the big basin above Louise Lake.
*Technical warning* (boring): The 0-6" of powder scraped off the rain crust easily, but there was no propagation at all, even on slopes of 40 degrees +. We dug a pit on a north face, at about 6000 ft. Four inches of dense powder lay unconsolidated on a crust atop six inches of 1 finger dense snow. This layer rested on a hard crust which capped another deeper layer of lighter snow. A shear test popped the two rain dense layers apart pretty easily, but a compression test needed about CT24 (four hits from the shoulder) to move the layers. We felt green lighted by that test, plus the fact that there was at most places just a thin layer of new on top of the denser old layers, and that only sloughed a little.
We found excellent deposits of snow on the East sides of the ridges (fit neatly with the NWAC report), but they would quickly peter out for more ssscccraping ! Found our way down through a couple of steepish glades, then opened up down to the flats. That trip down was the lift we were looking for. A little meadow skipping brought us to the road above Louise.
Narada Face skied really well in spite of a little sssccccraping. 5 women snowshoers were dazzled by our turns down the face. I felt like a Tele God. But they were married. Oh, so am I. ;D
We saw Gary Vogt up at Paradise, who indicated about the same conditions on Mazama.
No cameras - no pics no video - sorry!
Moscawulf and I both needed a psychological lift, and so headed geographically down to the Tatoosh, and climbed up East of the Castle, hoping to find powder to ski down.
The skin up was TUFF. The rain crust was nearly bullet proof in some places. And in all places it lurked under the powder. We found exactly the same conditions at Narada as we found up high. Below the lee slopes the ssscccraping layer was deep under wind deposited snow. On the ridge tops and in the trees, it was right under the surface, ready to slide our skis backwards out from under us. So the strategy became... ssscccrape...Skis off - boot pack for awhile, then skis back on to skin till the next ssscccraping backwards slide.
We headed East from the lower Castle Basin, and entered the big basin above Louise Lake.
*Technical warning* (boring): The 0-6" of powder scraped off the rain crust easily, but there was no propagation at all, even on slopes of 40 degrees +. We dug a pit on a north face, at about 6000 ft. Four inches of dense powder lay unconsolidated on a crust atop six inches of 1 finger dense snow. This layer rested on a hard crust which capped another deeper layer of lighter snow. A shear test popped the two rain dense layers apart pretty easily, but a compression test needed about CT24 (four hits from the shoulder) to move the layers. We felt green lighted by that test, plus the fact that there was at most places just a thin layer of new on top of the denser old layers, and that only sloughed a little.
We found excellent deposits of snow on the East sides of the ridges (fit neatly with the NWAC report), but they would quickly peter out for more ssscccraping ! Found our way down through a couple of steepish glades, then opened up down to the flats. That trip down was the lift we were looking for. A little meadow skipping brought us to the road above Louise.
Narada Face skied really well in spite of a little sssccccraping. 5 women snowshoers were dazzled by our turns down the face. I felt like a Tele God. But they were married. Oh, so am I. ;D
We saw Gary Vogt up at Paradise, who indicated about the same conditions on Mazama.
No cameras - no pics no video - sorry!
author=Rusty Knees link=topic=19505.msg82852#msg82852 date=1297229318]
The skin up was TUFF. The rain crust was nearly bullet proof in some places. ... So the strategy became... ssscccrape...Skis off - boot pack for awhile, then skis back on to skin till the next ssscccraping backwards slide.
Thanks for the report -- sounds like a job for ski crampons. I think they're essential in conditions like that.
Dug a pit at about 6300 ft facing NE at a 45 degree compass reading and found pretty much the same snow layers a little south of you down here in the hogback out of wp. The snow was about 4 full inches of pow and really fun to ski; very protected in the trees.
Brenda and I were out celebrating our 28th anniversary over on the Paradise side. Found similar conditions but I think it might have been a little better. Deeper on most lower angle stuff, and maybe a bit softer. I always try to ski the Paradise side in conditions like that, thinking the south facing may not have frozen so hard before the dust comes in. Anyway, everything was very skiable. We were messing around much of the day on the edge of Stevens Canyon over in the back bowl. Kind of flirtiing with a drop into the canyon and a tour down to the road. Couldn't talk Brenda into it though. Finally experienced the life of the midweek retiree and slacker crowd, and I like it.
author=md2020 link=topic=19505.msg82865#msg82865 date=1297270033]
Brenda and I were out celebrating our 28th anniversary over on the Paradise side. Found similar conditions but I think it might have been a little better. Deeper on most lower angle stuff, and maybe a bit softer. I always try to ski the Paradise side in conditions like that, thinking the south facing may not have frozen so hard before the dust comes in. Anyway, everything was very skiable. We were messing around much of the day on the edge of Stevens Canyon over in the back bowl. Kind of flirtiing with a drop into the canyon and a tour down to the road. Couldn't talk Brenda into it though. Finally experienced the life of the midweek retiree and slacker crowd, and I like it.
Congrats! I skied down 9-1-1 to say hello (Gary said you were there) and all I saw was 2 tracks leading down to Stevens Canyon--and I was slightly disappointed to find no uptrack! midweek retiree and slacker
author=acarey link=topic=19505.msg82867#msg82867 date=1297270990]
Congrats! I skied down 9-1-1 to say hello (Gary said you were there) and all I saw was 2 tracks leading down to Stevens Canyon--and I was slightly disappointed to find no uptrack! midweek retiree and slacker
We were there, climbing the tree line watching you, and waving our sticks to get your attention. You never looked up. The uptrack started bit further down.
author=md2020 link=topic=19505.msg82865#msg82865 date=1297270033]
Brenda and I were out celebrating our 28th anniversary
You guys are my relationship heroes! Congratulations. Do you skin together on Valentines Day, too? ::) But really - way to go on 28 years. And did you retire Mike or are you merely temporarily slacking? You're much too young, methinks...
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