Quick report
Plan A was powder laps at Hyak, a plan a parking-lot full of others had, too. As soon as our skis touched snow, it became clear that yesterday's heavy pow was now beneath a fully boot-supportable crust at pass-level. New plans were made and rapidly discarded due to intense parking-lot crowding. Plan E became a long skin in the woods with friends to 5,000', which turned out to be better than Plan A. The crust was completely gone before we reached 4,000'. Calm winds, filtered (decreasing) sunshine, and long views were all very fine. Trail-breaking on fattest skis remained boot-top. Tree wells in thick trees still grabbed at our skis. Settlement-cones were evident everywhere, especially at upper elevations. Walking the crests of test slopes got no obvious response. A few tree bombs falling, but trees mostly still hold their snow all the way to the ridgetops. For the initial descent, we selected a familiar SE slope of sheltered forest. Ski quality was great. No instability noted. Returning to Pass level, the crust had softened, but to our surprise, was still supportable around 3pm. Very grateful for this brief return to true winter as we all know it. Even a fleeting chance to let pow skis run on bottomless hometown snow can fill the soul.
Avalanche
See photos -- mostly older slides from this week.