Allison Clay pre Snow-pocalypse

Me, U2metoo and Dean did a recon on Allison Clay and her little sister yesterday to get a sense of things before the incoming Snow-pocalypse. I really wanted to get a good profile of whatever was about to be buried, so we set out a lollygaggin up the hill under toasty conditions and bluebird sky.

We were surprised when we got to the base of dutchmans to find a crevasse rescue in process....so we moved higher instead of gawking.


I had noticed quite a bit of frost south of town in the morning, and was able to observe just a touch of surface hoar in protected areas, but it was rapidly melting in the harsh sun.


I was disappointed to find a shoeshoe path roughly 8-10 feet wide up skiers left on upper dutchmans....be kind folks, single file so we can all enjoy the soft stuff....

Turning the corner on the ridge forming the southern boundary of Allison Clay, we peered into a platter of sastrugi and igneous irritants....


At this point, the typical wind/sun crust in exposed areas was prevalent with minor areas of dry protected powder in isolated areas. Traversing along contour, we found a reasonable N-facing slope to dig a pit. I wanted a representative N-facing slope that was fairly protected from the sun, observations here....


I was surprised at the low temps I found in the snow pack and was also surprised at the large temp gradient in the layer just under the surface. It's obvious that this was responsible for the faceting going on underneath, but it's my understanding that in a colder snowpack, <-10C, larger gradients are needed for equivalent facet growth found in a warmer snowpack....comments or clarifications? The wind slab firmly supported all of us on skis and was a bear to edge across, so much so that a slide for life was more of a concern than punching through...that and the spotty conditions. I'd speculate that if we get as much snow as is forecasted, this faceted layer may further weaken as it becomes insulated, raises in temp and faceted growth accelerates....comments, rotten vegetables? ECT resulted in nothing but a sore hand, impromptu shovel shear tests throughout the day also resulted in nothing.

Traversing across Allison Clay, we headed into the light and up onto the ridge separating Allison Clay and her little sister to the north. We peered over and found more of the same....


At this point, we descended through the trees on this ridge hoping to find some softer snow...which we did in spots, separated by some wind slab which made it sporty....

Skiing back down into Allison proper, we worked our way over the sastrugi and rocks....



....and traversed south back into the trees in search of some softer snow...which we found in the usual spots....


A fun and educational day. I'm still taking hard turns gingerly on my knee (as you can probably see on the video below). Powder is fine...but the hard pack really puts more strain on the supporting muscles around my IT band. At this point I think it may be more psychological than real as my PT is starting to wind down and it feels pretty strong now in general. Guess I just need to hang it out there and pin it to see if it'll hold. U2metoo did up two video's which I've embedded here....