Tatoosh Range

I took a walk out the road to the Tatoosh range today. And yes, I walked on pavement quite a bit because they have now started clearing the road. The snowbanks on the side provided enough coverage for skinning in some places, but frankly, it was easier just to walk large portions.

A good overnight refreeze held up for most of the morning with a few areas of tricky skinning on the way up the shady side of the range, but I never took out my ski crampons. Southerly aspects softened enough for fun turns just before midday and were soft enough for purchase skinning back up to the ridge. My second climb up the south side resulted in much softer surfaces and a few sloppy spots.

I observed plenty of old wet avalanche activity, including wet loose, cornice collapses, and maybe a few pockets of slab. There were irregular frozen surfaces in Castle Bowl, but by the time I dropped the shady side around 2:30, slopes had softened enough that I felt mostly comfortable with my descent. 

The lack of snow has been in our face all winter, but now that it's spring it has taken on a new light. It took me much longer to make my trip than usual, and I had to fight alders and pavement where there is typically plenty of coverage this time of the season.

No red flag signs of instability were observed.

The snowpack has largely started its transition from winter to spring. Where I dug on a southerly aspect, there was no discernible difference between the overnight refreeze crust and the 3/25, and no dry snow was found. At noon, there was roughly 4cm of softening on southerlies. An hour and a half later, it was a few cms deeper on my second lap.

I did not get any significant snowpack test results.