Quick report
As so many people have reported over the past few days, travel in the Snoqualmie Pass is....rough. Everywhere we traveled today to the Kendall Adventure zone from the Gold Creek TH featured a wide range of snow surfaces. Anywhere near trees is some of the most heinous snow travel conditions I have ever seen. Nearly bulletproof ice with scattered tree bombs and a very uneven snow surface can be found under or near trees at all elevations. We observed significant surface hoar and faceting of the upper 10-15cm of the snowpack on protected polar aspects. However, slopes with these conditions are relatively small and the layer is not usually very continuous. The lack of soft snow on upper elevation polar aspects was somewhat surprising to me. The Silver Twin Couloir was a mix of breakable crust and very firm wind board. You would need to search quite hard to find loose snow to drift (or ski) above 5000' in this area. No signs of instability for any avalanche problem except very small dry loose on steep polar aspects above treeline in the unconsolidated facets. Even with clear skies and no wind, steep solar aspects softened but never showed signs of instability. Overall safe avalanche conditions all around.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
No wind, clear skies, and chilly temperatures. The sun was strong enough to soften up steep solar aspects to make good turns in the mid-afternoon.