March 8-9, 2002, Herman Saddle, Mt. Baker

What a difference a day makes. Friday afternoon start presented our party of 3 with 1.5' of very light powder very occasional W wind, temps in the teens and low to no visibility. Skinned to just below the saddle and took some short steeper lines to get the momentum necessary to plow through the deep snow. Excellent quality (bottomless in places, snorkel advisory). Did another 1/2 lap and called it a good afternoon of skiing. Old S aspect avy debris noted probably from the intense sun of the week previous. No recent activity, shovel shear showed ~16" of gradually denser powder well bonded to the thick sun crust below.

Saturday was a whole different story with strong E winds, sunshine and heat early followed by clouds moving in. Our party of 5 made the saddle with another group of 11 or so. A very small natural released slab on SW aspect. Avoided W lee slope and headed back down toward the lift area. Windblown powder (~1') gave way to nice fluff higher up. Skied 2 small 50' bumps at ~4500' SE aspect with a very small skier triggered slab release of 10" crown, 10' wide, 20' long no accumulation, no propagation. Looking at probable further deteriorating conditions we bugged out where a few of us salvaged a couple of hours at the lift area.

T. Moate