Alpental

We took a few quick laps at Alp and through the back bowls out to Draft Dodger, No Fog, etc as part of our journey out to Leavenworth today.

Overall, ski conditions up high exceeded expectations, which admittedly were low. A few inches of "dust on crust" made for more enjoyable turns in open smooth areas. The underlying crust was stout but not so icy that you couldn't get an edge in.

Avalanche potential was low, but travel hazards did exist - frozen avalanche debris, open holes, creeks, and tree bombed out forests. 

Visibility was very poor, but we were able to spot plenty of debris from the warm-up earlier this week. Slides in the apron of Chair Peak, and across the summer trail were some highlights.

 

I was able to push just the smallest amount of snow over the crust on steep convexities.

In favored locations, there is up to 15cm of dry snow over a melt-freeze crust. The higher you are, the drier and deeper it is. A transition to moister snow was observed below roughly 4300'. 

Below this week's snow, a series of melt-freeze crusts exist. The uppermost crust was boot-supportable in most locations in the middle elevation band and above. It was a mixed bag of supportable or moist lower down.

Weak wet grains still exist in the upper snowpack but are quickly getting bridged. 

Snowpack tests were unremarkable.