Quick report
I took one for the team and went to assess the accessibility of Tronsen Meadows on Blewett Pass today. I was pleased to find that some awesome folks had worked hard to clear the trails of all the trees that fell after the AR events in December. So Tronsen Ridge and maybe Windy Knob are accessible. Are they skiable? That's another story. Unfortunately, Blewett, which was struggling to build a snowpack to begin with, has taken a hard hit from high pressure in the last week and no longer has consistent snow coverage. Fingers crossed for new snow soon to open this area back up.
Big ups to anyone out there who had a hand in clearing the trails!
Weather
- Air Temp
- 32-39
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
It was a clear, blue day with no wind. The inversion cloud bank hangs around 3000ft, but temps stay relatively cold for at least another 1k above that. At 10am, the truck at the TH (3900ft) read 32F. I recored a temp of 39F at 5000ft. Back down at the truck in the afternoon, it read 26F but not quite sure I put full stock in that.
Snowpack
Snowpack? That's funny...
I would say the snowshoe/xc trails are 80% covered in enough snow to skin up on. They are not as straightforward to ski back down due to dry patches, ice, and tree debris.
There is not consistent snow coverage anywhere along Tronsen Ridge. Windy Knob looked slightly more covered and you could probably ski it if you were desperate, however the upper Lilliby Tie trail didn't look cleared out.
Where there is snow, there is well developed surface hoar on most surfaces. Surface crusts are mostly supportable to skis, but not to boots. I dug a mini pit in a pocket of snow on a north aspect at 5000ft. There was approximately 25-30cm (10-12in) at this location. The snow was 1F-P hard crusts with 1-2mm facets in between. I identified numerous grains of depth hoar as well.