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Posted

 

It's going to take a while before that lift tower gets fixed.

 

Why even fix it? Crystal and the Summit Co. are all owned by the same company now. If you own 70% of the lifts in western Washington, why invest money making the historically financially worst ski area operable?

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Posted
I hope the big Oly beer can is OK.

 

Oly beer can is OK. Anyone remember when it was a Heidleberg can?

 

 

Couldn't replace it with any local beers, gotta change the image for Seattle and make it a ""micro brew""

Posted
I hope the big Oly beer can is OK.

 

Oly beer can is OK. Anyone remember when it was a Heidleberg can?

 

 

Couldn't replace it with any local beers, gotta change the image for Seattle and make it a ""micro brew""

 

too bad pyramid and redhook aren't local anymore

Posted
I was gonna say, looks more like a debris flow than an avalanche - looks like WSDOT beat me to it.

 

But, both the top and at least the upper 1/2 of the western side are defined by a snow-slab fracture. The upper 1/2 of the sliding surface appears to be planar. The NWAC has been stating that 100% climax slab avalanches are probable given the dynamics of this snow pack. So I would say that it was a slab avalanche with the decollement being a wet relatively smooth grassy surface with possibly a surface hoar layer immediately above. The debris could be expected whenever such a large wet strata is involved in a structural failure.

 

I would also add, that in a failure of this sort, as wether it is a slab causing a debris flow, or a mud flow triggering a slab avalanche is mostly arguing semantics.

 

I went up and looked at this yesterday. Two guys were skiing down and stopped to talk to me. One of the guys said he lived by the treatment plant and witnessed the whole thing. He told me that there is a guy who has lived at Hyak for 50 years who made mention that when they leveled the ground under the lift towers that fill dirt was brought in, which was a compost of sorts. A slurpy mixture of old rotted tree stumps and moraine like rock gravel is the result going down the mountain.

 

From looking at the event up close you can indeed tell it is NOT an avalanche, but was the result of total ground collapse underneath the snowpack. The hole looks more like a bomb crater than anything. The fact that there is a crown in the snow, is only a result of the underlying surface blowing out.

 

I hope they shut the area down and build a gondola to the top of Snoqualmie Mountain.

Posted

No chance of a gondola up Snoqualmie. Right on the Alpine Lakes edge. I believe the resort had to drop some plans up on Denny Mtn too.

 

You'll have to settle for fancy dining on top of Hyak in a couple years.

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