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Pacific Northwest trip...


toast21602

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Also similar to wet slabs, pits may or may not show the unstable layer. The water weakens the snow pack and causes a collapse, which may not be evident while the pack is dry and more stable. Since these events happen fast I would think getting off the snow a just waiting it out makes more sense than digging pits which will be dated in a matter of minutes to hours in a rain or thaw event.

 

I'm using pits as shorthand for the 1000 things that encompass avy assessment.

 

If you can't determine the pack is coming unglued so much that the flats are dangerous well then .....lulz

 

There are always places that can be skied safely

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I'm using pits as shorthand for the 1000 things that encompass avy assessment.

 

If you can't determine the pack is coming unglued so much that the flats are dangerous well then .....lulz

 

There are always places that can be skied safely

 

Fair and true. I'm using get off the snow as short hand for getting on low angle. Although, half the time I'll take one or two low angle runs and call it a day. Hard to justify the work when you can't reap something good.

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although rain events can strenghten a snowpack considerably for the snow fallen before the rain, if a rain crust layer forms on top, it can turn into an instability for new snow to slide on. However, this may not be much of an issue in the PNW, as heavy snow sticks to everything. However, freezing drizzle events do cause major instabilities in a continental snowpack. I guess my point is...it depends where you are, and on the type of snow falling after the rain event.

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  • 2 weeks later...

it rained like 6" throughout the week instead of snowing 6'. washout is an understatement. it was still a lot of fun to ride a few places i've never been before, and the terrain there is awesome, but the cameras didn't really come out to play in the middle of the downpour. about 3

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it rained like 6" throughout the week instead of snowing 6'. washout is an understatement. it was still a lot of fun to ride a few places i've never been before, and the terrain there is awesome, but the cameras didn't really come out to play in the middle of the downpour. about 3

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yeah, baker is a pretty risky place to take a trip. It rains there in the winter almost as much as it snows. If you hit it right though, you could be skiing some of the deepest snow on earth.

 

That was the hope, and up until 2 days before the trip, it was supposed to be head deep by the end of the week. We still got some fresh snow at Stevens for the last day, which was fun. Trying to get redemption in Utah in march...

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