TR Replies

Ned, I'm assuming you skied only the north aspect?  What did the south side of the saddle look like?  Our group found some pretty fine conditions around the Paradise area yesterday!

>:( That didn't sound like a very fun ski.

Maybe we should see if we could get Charles to put Hermione and Hedwig on the home page again to do some more of that magic stuff, and quick.  Or, maybe we should all get together with a sacrificial 5 gallon drum of that "Jarvis Jelly", Ron could led us on a BC trip and someone could light the fuse or something.   ;)

Yes indeed, Charles not only does nice tele turns but nice Saturn turns while avoiding objective dangers on the return home!!

 On the snow stability issue it will be interesting to see how the rain crust at 36" will act when loaded with a bit more  snow. The pit dug at 4400 ft or so south east facing showed fairly fairly easy failure at the crust surface. I recall some clear nights after that rain and wonder if on steeper aspects with some hoar frost development how well b...

Nice report Charles, sounds like you had a great day except for those holiday shoppers.  Glad you guys weren't a victim of a multi car.  Things seem to be much simpler in the BC.   ;)

I think it is either the 3700' or 3800' station on the Snoqualmie Pass telemetry page. There is this really cool Mountain Weather Browser which gives instant access to all of the telemetry data pages.  ;)

There's been lots of wind and higher freezing levels so I don't know that all aspects/ridgetops and low elevation (Reflection Lakes) would be skiable.  There were 50 inches at paradise, yet there are plenty of bushes sticking up thru the snow, big creeks are still open, and lots of gullies haven't filled in yet.  Another 4 feet of snow would make a huge difference  ;) abc

After a couple of years watching, I'd say it really helps to have 36 inches of snow depth showing on the Snoqualmie telemetry before expecting it to be reasonable up around the Nordic Pass elevation. Sigh...

I was just wondering what the conditions were up in the Snoqualmie area.  I just heard on the news today that Snoqualmie has only 10 inches at the base and the downhill areas are hoping to open sometime before Christmas with this new strom front that is suppose to drop some snow.  

That Mt Catherine Loop is really great.  We had lots of deep pow pow in there last year.  Looking forward to it again this year.  The tree skiing in through there is some of the best &n...

Mad Dog (Jeannette{?}): How do you and Ron do it? Not like I want my little ones to be in college yet, but you are helping me to define the days when my kids are off in a positive way! It is so nice to read your reports every week, and vicariously join you on your tours. Please let me know what your plans are for the 4th and/or 5th of January. I'd like to join you if I can.....Greg Lange (see Charles' T-A-Y email list for the details)


Happy skin tracks 8)

Yep, I 'spect all the nook and crannie stashes up there are now good to go  8)

Mike, thanks for the good info. I've been in those woods with early snow conditions and I know it can be a real struggle. I'm looking forward to being able to travel through there above all that brush!

I was there also on Wednesday. Sorry I missed you Zap. One thing to add is that in gentle unskiied spots, one wallowed in about two feet of fresh. Very unconsolidated. Otherwise Baker area probably has the best converage. Wonderful day there.

I've been browsing weather data with a ski trip on Thurs or Fri in mind. It looks like everywhere has been getting some good quality snow, and the Baker area has gotten a lot of new. What I am wondering is if this Green Mtn tour is likely to still have good access - ie. not too much logging road to get to the good stuff - as I have never been there before? I'd appreciate any ideas people have on this.

Also, any recent info on the Baker area itself? I saw a suggestion that Mt. Baker Mark m...

BTW, don't know how I could forget this piece of excitement.  On the way home from Paradise, a little ways outside of Elbe, it was very windy, the tall firs were whipping back and forth, suddenly, like slow motion, this huge fir tree starts to fall, landing all the way across the road, about 150 in front of my car.  Fortunately I was able to see all this happening and was able to stop in time.  The top of the tree was positioned such that we were able to drive into someones drivew...

AHHHHGGGG...... Nice snow while I was at home. Good report to see as it allows hope  to develop and a seed of a thought to say to the Mrs........ honey on Friday I was thinking........ 8)


    Thanks for the report Robie

                                CW

I'm surprised Ron and I didn't run into you in the parking lot at Paradise or at Longmire since we were waiting for the gate to open too.  However, when we got to Paradise, we were parked down by the lower Paradise road entrance so we didn't have to walk that far to the snow  ;D

Thanks for your report, we thought that it would be pretty wind scoured up towards Muir since the telemetry from most of the areas, the day/night before showed high winds.  We lucked out again in he...

Charles it would be nice to ski with you again, you could even leave a couple of hours later than us and still catch up  ;D

Thanks Nick, we did get it nailed just right once again, and it was great.

That is funny.  I had friends with a very similar experience at the blue lake trailhead.

That was us at the Blue Lake trailhead.  Breaking trail in flat old growth we heard tons of whomping as our weight caused the snowpack to settle.  Nearly instantanously, trees almost buried but not quite would spring up as the inch of settling was enough to free them, sometimes 30ft from where we were standing.  Trailbreaking was extremel...

Hi Scott, did you by chance see a pair of scott ski goggles somewhere on the trail or in the trees.  I lost my pair there a month ago and was hoping it wasnt buried under the snow.

Thanks

josh

Did not see any, but there was quite a bit of fresh snow, even from the night before so they could be anywhere

Good luck finding them

That is funny.  I had friends with a very similar experience at the blue lake trailhead.