Snow Lake Environs - Wright Mtn / Roosevelt E Shoulder

Quick report

Ahhh...nothing like a good ol' soggy Snoqualmie tour. We started around 8AM, snowfall was moderate to heavy with overcast skies. Snow felt dry-ish and had hopes high. Once over Snow Lake Divide we noticed a pretty quick density increase to much heavier, wetter snow. Few people were out in the Snow Lake zone, for good reason...ha! Mostly just a walk today but was still good to get out and see how things are doing. Coverage looks MUCH better than a few weeks ago. Heavy, upside down snow going more upside down throughout the day. Got some entrainment on steeper, convex rolls. No cracks, whumpfing, or sudden collapses. Mostly just typical PNW wet instabilities.

Weather

Cloud Cover

overcast

Wind Loading

none

Light winds. Overcast skies pretty much all day. Moderate snowfall from 8-10AM, then eased up after 10AM.

Snowpack

A return to PNWap. Snow in the parking lot gave promise but as we continued throughout the morning it only got heavier and heavier. Ski pen of maybe 10-12 inches outside of existing skin tracks, boot pen closer to 20-22 inches. Did not dig in the snow to explore layers/interfaces.

Avalanche

Witness debris piles from multiple natural slides, likely from overnight/early morning hours. Sizes ranged from D1.5 - D2. Common theme was a start zone beneath craggy features (cliffs, rocks, convexities).