Quick report
First Spring skin up Alpental in many years. Thanks to the Summit for the weekend of uphill travel amid the closing operations. A big thank-you to NWAC for another season of forecasting :)! Skinning before 9am was supportable at lower elevations. Felt softer near the top of Chair 1 even before getting into the full-sun aspects of Chair 2. Skinned up via Rollen, which worked. A few passing clouds, but plenty of sun today. Excavating a photo-platform at the top of 2 found 40-60cm of lower-density soggy snow above a supportable crust. This was a photo-trip, which required a later than optimal descent at 1:30 pm. Following a friend's tip that Nash still held dry snow around 12:30, I descended that way, finding dry but heavy snow in the upper shady reaches of the run. Lower Nash and below were remarkable schmoo, with ski-penetration above the calf for much of the descent. Fresh debris was evident on skiers' right above the traverse. No appreciable snow moved for me, but if you'd wanted to cut wet slides today, there were plenty of slopes ready to go. I skinned up West on the way home. It's still skinnable for at least this weekend, but very thin. Descending through Central with skins on was passable, but would have had rock-hits had I made any turns. Thank you again, NWAC!
Avalanche
Plenty of wet slides, sometimes breaking out into slabs, evident throughout the alpine at the Pass.