January 2, 2009, Snoqualmie area - death crust!
1/2/09
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2266
5
Given the avy reports thought we'll get some low angle turns in. I had been in this same area Monday of this week (Dec 29), but with the warm precip yesterday, conditions have completely changed. Trail breaking involved stepping through a thick crust about 3" down. No big deal, but lifting the ski up through the layer was another matter. The most efficient technique was to slid the rear ski on top of the forward ski to take advantage of the crust break from the previous step (not a very good description, but I'm sure you all know what I mean).
We didn't dig a pit but with numerous pole probes it felt like ~3" of light snow followed by the thick crust, then fairly consistant snow until I hit another resistance layer at around 18-20".
We hoped the crust would go away as we got higher, but that didn't happen so we turned around after around 1200' of climbing. Skiing down was pure survival - with relatively fat skis the crust hit me at the level of my top boot buckle, literally gridding us to a halt unless you were on >25D slope. The most successful technical was to lean ALL weight against the back of the boots, lifting the tips, and skiing off the rear half of the ski. >:(
Looks like we're going to need several more inches of snow and see how the bonding goes between the crust and subsequent layers before skiing with be good again in this area.
We didn't dig a pit but with numerous pole probes it felt like ~3" of light snow followed by the thick crust, then fairly consistant snow until I hit another resistance layer at around 18-20".
We hoped the crust would go away as we got higher, but that didn't happen so we turned around after around 1200' of climbing. Skiing down was pure survival - with relatively fat skis the crust hit me at the level of my top boot buckle, literally gridding us to a halt unless you were on >25D slope. The most successful technical was to lean ALL weight against the back of the boots, lifting the tips, and skiing off the rear half of the ski. >:(
Looks like we're going to need several more inches of snow and see how the bonding goes between the crust and subsequent layers before skiing with be good again in this area.
Thanks for doing the dirty recon work today, Russ. The optimist in me wonders what it's like above your turnaround, but the realist remembers that slightly above the base of REX at Crystal was about the fun/awful dividing line - what's that at, maybe 5K-ish? Hmm...
I was also in the area today and I definitely agree it's pretty miserable up there. Maybe the worst part is how fantastic the snow looks and yet like russ said, not much good skiing to be had... :(
Out there too, saw the Russmobile and uptrack. Seemed like a good day to introduce a friend to backcountry touring on low angle terrain. Traveled 3-5k on SW aspects in similar snow. Also found that the breakable crust went all the way up, to my surprise and chagrin. Didn't dig any pits, but got some fun fracture propagation on tiny open test slopes, and stomping tiny rolls got nice cohesive slabs to fail about a foot down. Stayed off anything steep. Textbook windslab atop a S ridge. Turned about due to cold hands and breakable crust. On ~25 degree terrain, I was able to float atop the breakable on midfats some of the time. Fun wasn't had by all :(. Sunset was beautiful.
Careful tomorrow (and later).
Careful tomorrow (and later).
author=highflyingpilot link=topic=11741.msg48829#msg48829 date=1230953160]
I was also in the area today and I definitely agree it's pretty miserable up there. Maybe the worst part is how fantastic the snow looks and yet like russ said, not much good skiing to be had... :(
I third that....but with one exception. The sun and blue sky made quite a few appearances!
Not good news for those looking to turn. As for the lovers of mountain touring and heavy trees, I'll see you up there again tomorrow!
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