December 22 @ Crystal

I was on a 9:05 chair out of the base area, but due to high winds and horizontal blowing snow, most of the mountain was closed until almost noon. When the wind let up and more chairs opened, the hordes migrated to the grand opening of the new Northway chair. I headed in the opposite direction.

During the morning I found untracked wind-affected snow with patches of fluff to skier’s left and a traverse off the top of the Forest Queen Express chair. During the afternoon I found soft untracked on the steep treed pitches near the top of Rainier Express and Green Valley. Stubble is still showing through, and there were often rocks poking through at the choke points in the trees.

Quote of the day: “Telemark. That’s the gangsta s@$t of skiing!”

Indeed.

I’ll leave it to you to speculate about what the speaker had attached to his feet.

Considering backcountry travel?

Check this out (caution, barely audible profanity at end):

Snowpack analysis experts may take issue with the particulars of the technique used, but what we see is a deep instability that releases on a meager 20 degree slope.

During the ride to Crystal a local NPR station played an interview with a spokesperson from the Northwest Avalanche Center who said conditions are scary at the moment, and displaying the characteristics of a continental (Rocky Mountain) snowpack. There is a layer of seriously unconsolidated snow 4-6′ down, near ground level, that is currently destabilizing the whole snowpack.

Be safe.

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