The Log of a Snow Survey by Armstrong Patrick

Author:Armstrong, Patrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781458217998
Publisher: Abbott Press
Published: 2014-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

The Packrat’s Ancient Treasures

We awake to a faint light coming in through the window. No doors are rattling and it is calm and clear. Today we will measure the upper and lower Tyndall courses and return to the cabin. Over coffee, we discuss the snowpack’s stability. Two feet have fallen with this storm and the wind has blown consistently from the southwest for its duration. On leeward slopes, even small leeward slopes, “snow pillows” four or five feet deep will have accumulated and these will remain unstable for days. Most deaths due to avalanches occur with avalanches less than 50 feet long. Conditions most certainly are avalanche prone. Additionally, the slides on Mt. Guyot and Forgotten Peak indicate there is a weak layer buried deep in the snowpack. A day spent measuring snow here at Tyndall Creek will at least allow the new snow to settle and stabilize before we head south.

I go out to fill a bucket and I dig down two feet to see what snow crystal types fell during this storm. I am not surprised to find one half inch of graupel, little round marble-like snow balls, at the base. Storms with wind often begin with graupel. It is like a layer of ball bearings, similar to hail but not quite ice. Where the old snow surface is soft powder, the small amount of graupel from this storm is not a concern; but in areas where there is a hard crust, the new snow could be unstable. If the graupel layer was an inch or more thick, the snow from this storm would likely be avalanche prone on all slope aspects.

Murt makes a big pancake breakfast with bacon, canned fruit and coffee. This should be a leisurely day, unless we encounter wind crust above the cabin, for it is no more than a couple miles to the upper Tyndall snow course. We all crayon a little more wax on our ski bases and leave the cabin around nine am. With skis on we are sinking to just below our knees. The wind with this storm has compacted the snow and trail breaking is not bad as we head up along Tyndall Creek.

The Jackrabbit wax we are using was made for wood skis, but now it is getting hard to find. It comes in a little square box with a picture of a jackrabbit wearing skis on the box. The wax was obviously poured into the box, a cottage industry enterprise. John “Jackrabbit” Johannsen, who made the wax, died in 1989 at the age of 109. I actually raced against the guy in 1969 in Sun Valley Idaho when he was 93; even then he was still a tough competitor and amazingly vigorous.

Since wood skis are not in vogue anymore and Jackrabbit died, the sources for his wax are understandably drying up. I hoard the wax when I can find it, but even my supplies are almost gone. It must be made with pine tar and beeswax and some secret ingredients.

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