November 14, 2005, Alpental
11/14/05
WA Snoqualmie Pass
8997
18
Day 4
11-14-05
Alpental - Breakover Trees to Debbie's Gold
Good things come to those who wait. Or get up, depending on the circumstances.
At 4 am the alarm went off and I couldn't muster the enthusiasm I had at 10 pm the night before. All weekend I had succumbed to Dad duties and husband responsibilities. Monday, sweet Monday, only work stood in my way of enjoying the snow, and what after all is work? Nothing.
I even convinced myself that the dropping temps Sunday night would be the harbinger of an end-of-storm-cycle cold snow, covering the unwelcome wet of the previous day and a half. Well, at least below 4,000'. Above, the avy danger alone could have turned me away on Sunday - but I digress. Late at night, the warm glow of my shop light illuminating a new wax job on the B board, I imagined dense powder down to the parking lot.
But at 4 am, silence, and the knowledge that dense powder to the lot was surely folly. Right? The unavoidable truth was that no new snow had been reported at 3,000' when I went to bed. What, pray tell, would make me think that a frozen death crust wouldn't be in place, the temps dropping and the clear skies arriving with nary a wisp of new snow. I don't know. I rolled over and thoughts returned to the good skiing of the prior weekend. Dreamy. Could it be "The Year"? hmmm. I sat up with a flash and ran to the coffee maker. Maybe it would be. Maybe.
I arrived at Alpental parking lot at 5:30 am. In four-wheel drive and in 5 inches new of fresh powder, I broke trail up the access road and was rewarded with parking in the employee lot by the shed. The summer closure had ended and the road was open as far as one dared drive. Holy Christ! Completely unexpected, I donned snowshoes in the lot in a driving snow.
The tracks from the day before (gregl's I was looking for, and could hardly find) where drifted in and hard to follow. My pace was slow and methodical, and I was just enthralled to find powder. I made it up past the Quad and encountered strong winds going up Debbie's Gold - how odd - drifting in a nice cornice. I found the 5" of powder rested on a firm rain crust from the day before, and yet the snow itself was nicely unconsolidated. Below that rain crust was dense wet snow above a second rain crust 8" further, probably from Thursday's rain. Glad for my board to stay up on top, and running out of time, I decided to call the ball and enjoy the clearing skies. I was unsure of avy danger above anyway, leftover high danger from Sunday's weather might still be lurking. It was oh-so-good to strap on the board in powder, even if it was the beat up B board.
I followed my tracks back down Debbie's Gold and smiled, smiled, smiled. I was able to stay on top enjoying the powder, and due to the snow and wind, all previous tracks were erased, making for a true untracked descent. I worked my way back over to Sessel and enjoyed good powder and a few jumps over open streams - the lower parts still needed snow to make it the white sheet that is usual to a ski area.
Back at the car, in the gathering sun, I knew my descent of powder was fleeting. The snow would surely turn to crap in the days to come. But, for now, that powder smile still graced my face.
I think indeed it could be One of Those Years. Maybe.
11-14-05
Alpental - Breakover Trees to Debbie's Gold
Good things come to those who wait. Or get up, depending on the circumstances.
At 4 am the alarm went off and I couldn't muster the enthusiasm I had at 10 pm the night before. All weekend I had succumbed to Dad duties and husband responsibilities. Monday, sweet Monday, only work stood in my way of enjoying the snow, and what after all is work? Nothing.
I even convinced myself that the dropping temps Sunday night would be the harbinger of an end-of-storm-cycle cold snow, covering the unwelcome wet of the previous day and a half. Well, at least below 4,000'. Above, the avy danger alone could have turned me away on Sunday - but I digress. Late at night, the warm glow of my shop light illuminating a new wax job on the B board, I imagined dense powder down to the parking lot.
But at 4 am, silence, and the knowledge that dense powder to the lot was surely folly. Right? The unavoidable truth was that no new snow had been reported at 3,000' when I went to bed. What, pray tell, would make me think that a frozen death crust wouldn't be in place, the temps dropping and the clear skies arriving with nary a wisp of new snow. I don't know. I rolled over and thoughts returned to the good skiing of the prior weekend. Dreamy. Could it be "The Year"? hmmm. I sat up with a flash and ran to the coffee maker. Maybe it would be. Maybe.
I arrived at Alpental parking lot at 5:30 am. In four-wheel drive and in 5 inches new of fresh powder, I broke trail up the access road and was rewarded with parking in the employee lot by the shed. The summer closure had ended and the road was open as far as one dared drive. Holy Christ! Completely unexpected, I donned snowshoes in the lot in a driving snow.
The tracks from the day before (gregl's I was looking for, and could hardly find) where drifted in and hard to follow. My pace was slow and methodical, and I was just enthralled to find powder. I made it up past the Quad and encountered strong winds going up Debbie's Gold - how odd - drifting in a nice cornice. I found the 5" of powder rested on a firm rain crust from the day before, and yet the snow itself was nicely unconsolidated. Below that rain crust was dense wet snow above a second rain crust 8" further, probably from Thursday's rain. Glad for my board to stay up on top, and running out of time, I decided to call the ball and enjoy the clearing skies. I was unsure of avy danger above anyway, leftover high danger from Sunday's weather might still be lurking. It was oh-so-good to strap on the board in powder, even if it was the beat up B board.
I followed my tracks back down Debbie's Gold and smiled, smiled, smiled. I was able to stay on top enjoying the powder, and due to the snow and wind, all previous tracks were erased, making for a true untracked descent. I worked my way back over to Sessel and enjoyed good powder and a few jumps over open streams - the lower parts still needed snow to make it the white sheet that is usual to a ski area.
Back at the car, in the gathering sun, I knew my descent of powder was fleeting. The snow would surely turn to crap in the days to come. But, for now, that powder smile still graced my face.
I think indeed it could be One of Those Years. Maybe.
Nice work! I did a similar adventure last week before work. Sometimes in these days of kids it is the only way to make turns and get the dog some exercise.
4 o' clock comes quickly especially when you can not sleep do to that condition known as powder dreamin'.
Cheers!
4 o' clock comes quickly especially when you can not sleep do to that condition known as powder dreamin'.
Cheers!
What a difference a day (or 2) makes. We skied Alpental Saturday morning, a day before Greg and 2 days before MW8. Took the same route up chair 1 & 2. At the top we found 12 inches of very dry sugar snow, surprisingly well bonded to the rain crust below. Dropped into International which was even deeper and excellent. Super fast dry snow. We should have just lapped it over and over because it was so good, but our destination was Pineapple Basin. By the time we got out there the visibility was so bad we skied down Great Scott Bowl to the Source Lake area and out. It was pretty bony but still fun. Needs more snow down low. Today is the day to get it before it gets warm!
Drat. Should have looked at that telemetry before turning in last night! Now I am stuck at work, staring forlornly at nice blue patches on the webcams, and you're almost certainly right that it'll be glop tomorrow.
We were also there Saturday, taking a run first down Kante to just past the gunmount and then back up to do Intl., which was good but we got nailed by that same visibility drop there, which cut into the fun a little bit but the snow was definitely nice.
We were also there Saturday, taking a run first down Kante to just past the gunmount and then back up to do Intl., which was good but we got nailed by that same visibility drop there, which cut into the fun a little bit but the snow was definitely nice.
I knew you'd be heading up there...I just got your pm btw. Sorry I missed you. I had a feeling it would be good this morning too, but I was up until 3:00 am finishing up the weekends re-mod work so I didn't really consider it. Got my fix on Saturday up on Sykline Ridge (very good). Next time...looking forward to some nice Monday's this year.
Nice work! I suspected as much when I got up this morning and found it was crisp and cold in Seattle.
Though my timing seems to off by a day, this heavy snow/rain cycle is perfect for laying down a stable base, huh?
Wish they would get the cable and sewer done under the new bridge so the webcam would work . . .
Though my timing seems to off by a day, this heavy snow/rain cycle is perfect for laying down a stable base, huh?
Wish they would get the cable and sewer done under the new bridge so the webcam would work . . .
Just went and skied International this afternoon. Face shots at 5pm. There was a smokin' skin track all the way to the top of chair 2, but all the tracks went back down the face. 12-14 inches of dry snow all the way down to lower International, 6-8 inches in the middle, and 3-4 down below, which also was nice and dry.
Update: Despite my own jinxing, I went up this morning.
It was still very very good.
Once above C1, the wind has definitely been moving things around on top of the Sunday(?) rain crust, but it was not at all windy today at mountain level. This crust was particularly evident in Edelweiss Bowl. Most of the time the crust was punchable for purposes of skinning, and with care it was also possible to discover the more sheltered areas that hadn't been scoured. The wind deposited stuff is predictably not well bonded to that crust, there's not enough of it remaining on the Bowl side to be a slab concern in and of itself. The one other party I saw I only caught up to as they drove out the parking lot. I made good time to top, just 2 discs worth on the IPod with 2 tracks to spare! (good to choose your discs wisely tho, I didn't cue up the Minutemen...)
There were only 2-3 other tracks down Intl, but I was glad to see those tracks as a stability indicator, as I was solo today. There weren't that many tracks in the Bowl either. As I had suspected, the snow on Intl had probably gained from the wind, particularly the upper part. Excellent very silky feeling snow as much as 2 feet deep, it didn't really generate face shots because it wasn't airy but damn nice. Farther down lenses of wind-affected crust started appearing, or rather started being felt, because it was visually hard to tell the crusty stuff from the nice deep stuff. Odd.
Still stream crossings low. Beasties lurk beneath the surface on Sessel, but they seemed to be relatively unhungry beasties.
Warning: while I was there C-2 did fire up, uploading at least one pair of patrol, and what I had the feeling was a lucky local or liftie boarder who scammed an upload and just scooted right down E Bowl without even caring that he was mostly skating the crust right by the good, less wind affected snow even on that run (let alone the righteous material on the Intl side). Cry, cry for the neglected freshies!
It was still very very good.
Once above C1, the wind has definitely been moving things around on top of the Sunday(?) rain crust, but it was not at all windy today at mountain level. This crust was particularly evident in Edelweiss Bowl. Most of the time the crust was punchable for purposes of skinning, and with care it was also possible to discover the more sheltered areas that hadn't been scoured. The wind deposited stuff is predictably not well bonded to that crust, there's not enough of it remaining on the Bowl side to be a slab concern in and of itself. The one other party I saw I only caught up to as they drove out the parking lot. I made good time to top, just 2 discs worth on the IPod with 2 tracks to spare! (good to choose your discs wisely tho, I didn't cue up the Minutemen...)
There were only 2-3 other tracks down Intl, but I was glad to see those tracks as a stability indicator, as I was solo today. There weren't that many tracks in the Bowl either. As I had suspected, the snow on Intl had probably gained from the wind, particularly the upper part. Excellent very silky feeling snow as much as 2 feet deep, it didn't really generate face shots because it wasn't airy but damn nice. Farther down lenses of wind-affected crust started appearing, or rather started being felt, because it was visually hard to tell the crusty stuff from the nice deep stuff. Odd.
Still stream crossings low. Beasties lurk beneath the surface on Sessel, but they seemed to be relatively unhungry beasties.
Warning: while I was there C-2 did fire up, uploading at least one pair of patrol, and what I had the feeling was a lucky local or liftie boarder who scammed an upload and just scooted right down E Bowl without even caring that he was mostly skating the crust right by the good, less wind affected snow even on that run (let alone the righteous material on the Intl side). Cry, cry for the neglected freshies!
How far down did the snow start to get bad?
Hmm I am not sure how to answer your question. After last year, and furthermore whenever skiing on a workday, I am not sure there is such a thing as bad snow...
The little sections of crust existed throughout Upper I but were small and avoidable. As I got closer to the occasionally windy breakover between Upper and Lower, they got more common, but still you'd be off them within a turn if you used proper realtime guesswork about how/where the good snow was likely to have been deposited. Lower I was not as wind affected and coverage was good on skiers right until it gets flatter below where the cattrack joins, then there were some streams and lumps to rodeo around but perfectly doable without risk of base damage. From C-3 level down was survival skiing on a shallow base, but soft enough to be mostly fun on proper crudbusting equipment.
On the Edelweiss side I know that the top part of the bowl was pretty scoured but you could have found a few good wind deposited lines in low spots and near treelines. The middle part of C-2 the snow would have been OK, not quite as wind affected at the top, and the section of C-1 that I skinned probably would have been an OK run too again until you reached level of C-3.
But don't expect wall to wall powder on any of the runs, it had changed a lot since Saturday. The OSOALP windspeed is out, but the Snoqualmie telemetry at a much lower elev. had averages around 30pmh and peaks at 40-50, from 11/13 1800 thru 11/14 0600, it must have been blowing pretty hard up there. I hadn't looked at that part of the telemetry before heading up there, and it helps explain what I observed about the exposed crusts.
Wish they'd fix the AlpyCam so you could see ... it was very useful as a go/nogo for both weather and coverage last year.
The little sections of crust existed throughout Upper I but were small and avoidable. As I got closer to the occasionally windy breakover between Upper and Lower, they got more common, but still you'd be off them within a turn if you used proper realtime guesswork about how/where the good snow was likely to have been deposited. Lower I was not as wind affected and coverage was good on skiers right until it gets flatter below where the cattrack joins, then there were some streams and lumps to rodeo around but perfectly doable without risk of base damage. From C-3 level down was survival skiing on a shallow base, but soft enough to be mostly fun on proper crudbusting equipment.
On the Edelweiss side I know that the top part of the bowl was pretty scoured but you could have found a few good wind deposited lines in low spots and near treelines. The middle part of C-2 the snow would have been OK, not quite as wind affected at the top, and the section of C-1 that I skinned probably would have been an OK run too again until you reached level of C-3.
But don't expect wall to wall powder on any of the runs, it had changed a lot since Saturday. The OSOALP windspeed is out, but the Snoqualmie telemetry at a much lower elev. had averages around 30pmh and peaks at 40-50, from 11/13 1800 thru 11/14 0600, it must have been blowing pretty hard up there. I hadn't looked at that part of the telemetry before heading up there, and it helps explain what I observed about the exposed crusts.
Wish they'd fix the AlpyCam so you could see ... it was very useful as a go/nogo for both weather and coverage last year.
New to the group - excuse my ignorance:
What's "Debbies Gold"? I thought I was familiar with Alpental but I've never heard of it. I ask because it sounds like this guys route was "safe" to skin/ski solo. Whenever I want to ski/train I skin up and ski down Summit West because I am alone and there is no chance of avy, however it's boring and not enough vert per run either. It sounds like MW88888888 was solo. So are there sure fire safe routes at Alpental you can actually ski solo? How bout including a topo map of your route MW88888888? - Thanks
What's "Debbies Gold"? I thought I was familiar with Alpental but I've never heard of it. I ask because it sounds like this guys route was "safe" to skin/ski solo. Whenever I want to ski/train I skin up and ski down Summit West because I am alone and there is no chance of avy, however it's boring and not enough vert per run either. It sounds like MW88888888 was solo. So are there sure fire safe routes at Alpental you can actually ski solo? How bout including a topo map of your route MW88888888? - Thanks
Debbie's Gold is the main run under the Armstrong Express (quad) chair . . .
http://www.summit-at-snoqualmie.com/info/winter/alpental_lg.asp
That route, along with the Edelweiss Bowl side of the upper chair, tend to be relatively stable, with the exception of the last 700 vf of Upper Edelweiss Bowl, which is slide prone. Both Upper and Lower International are inclined to slide even during the season; on Saturday there was the additional threat of debris falling from the cliffs over the lower section.
http://www.summit-at-snoqualmie.com/info/winter/alpental_lg.asp
That route, along with the Edelweiss Bowl side of the upper chair, tend to be relatively stable, with the exception of the last 700 vf of Upper Edelweiss Bowl, which is slide prone. Both Upper and Lower International are inclined to slide even during the season; on Saturday there was the additional threat of debris falling from the cliffs over the lower section.
We are talking about Alpental, so by definition people should assume there's no completely safe-from-avy-route. That has got to be the safest way though. What do people think of avy danger up there this weekend? Looks like it's going to be pretty warm and no precip. No wind I don't think either. I'm not sure it will get that cold at night, so things might be mushy and not frozen. If it's blue bird weather, I might obligate myself to go Muir though. Hmmmm.....
The ascent route that I feel is safest is to head up chair 1 towards Eidelwiess bowl, but then cut up lower Gunmount to above The Fan and then head up Sideslip & Kante to the top (assuming I got all those run names right). Basically that's the spot where they put up that netting during the season. I've been by myself and had a large glide crack open up as I skinned to the top of the Bowl, so now I mostly always take this route. Going up Internationale is very direct but involves more exposure.
No route is 100% safe, but I feel that this route minimizes the exposure. Sorry about using the run names for people that might not be familiar with Alpental.
No route is 100% safe, but I feel that this route minimizes the exposure. Sorry about using the run names for people that might not be familiar with Alpental.
Indeed, no route is 100% and even walking up the steep sections of Debbie's I'm looking for indications of foul play. And turn around if at all worrisome. Hell, if I'm worried there's usually Pow below so it's not like it's a bad choice!
I've also adopted the gunmount route as Alpentalcorey has suggested, with variations depending on the snow. I enjoy sunrise in Edelweiss, but that bowl can be very nerve-wracking, especially under the cliffs.
The current snow at alpy is for sure "challenging" and getting more so (skied yesterday morning in a misty rain). Death crust is forming, so ski it when soft (maybe in the afternoon?) and for sure with the fattest stuff you got. The fun factor is about 40% now and getting lower. Good top to bottom skiing, but altitude might increase those smiles until we loose this high pressure ridge and the snow returns. Good luck.
I've also adopted the gunmount route as Alpentalcorey has suggested, with variations depending on the snow. I enjoy sunrise in Edelweiss, but that bowl can be very nerve-wracking, especially under the cliffs.
The current snow at alpy is for sure "challenging" and getting more so (skied yesterday morning in a misty rain). Death crust is forming, so ski it when soft (maybe in the afternoon?) and for sure with the fattest stuff you got. The fun factor is about 40% now and getting lower. Good top to bottom skiing, but altitude might increase those smiles until we loose this high pressure ridge and the snow returns. Good luck.
Yeah I like that gunmount-to-kante method, but even that has one particular exposure that can point-release on you in particularly bad conditions or slide out under you while you're above some slight exposure, about 300vf worth between crossing under the chair and reaching the orange cargo net at the edge of the run as Corey describes. Reaching the gunmount itself is still quite worthy, if in doubt.
But, if two of our most dedicated dawn patrollers endorse this, how come I never find a pre-existing skin track that way? >:( Last time, there was a diverging snowshoe track to there, but I left it alone as my little part towards promoting better jah love amongst the usergroups, as per our other fine thread (I didn't piss in it either...)
But, if two of our most dedicated dawn patrollers endorse this, how come I never find a pre-existing skin track that way? >:( Last time, there was a diverging snowshoe track to there, but I left it alone as my little part towards promoting better jah love amongst the usergroups, as per our other fine thread (I didn't piss in it either...)
But did your dog poop in it?
;D
;D
But did your dog poop in it?
;D
On Sunday, seems everyone else's dog let loose within 6 feet of the skin track . . . pretty appetizing phenomenon, to be sure.
Even more appetizing in the spring snowmelt (check out the river trail in Revelstoke in April sometime...). But not quite as wonderful as having your own dog go and eat all the frozen human turds in all the tree wells on the way up toward Artist Point in the springtime.
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