Web Mountain via Putrid Pete's Peak — Friday, Mar. 25, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Hiked to ~3800ft where the trail crosses a small avalanche chute. Checking a bit to the north, the trail sits between two chutes at that point. The map and satellite suggest that continuing north to the 4200ft level and cutting east to the draw may be possible, but I had no GPS track on hand and was not willing to cross the chute given unknown conditions at higher elevations, coupled with a moderate+considerable avalanche forecast. There is a wide area of avalanche damage near the western-most arm of the trail at lower elevations (~3000ft). While this does not appear to have knocked down any trees, it's clear that it carried blowdowns and underbrush from the upper portion of the chute. There are many large blowdowns across the trail, some of which require alternate routing to bypass. Trees and branches are down starting at lower elevations, before the junction to Dirty Harry's Balcony. With overnight snow, route finding skills are necessary above 3000ft. Previous experience with the trail is recommended. (This was the first time I commented that marking tape would have been useful, in order to find my way back, as it was still snowing throughout the morning.) You must be able to recognize the trail under detritus, small branches, and through tree limbs, and that underneath several inches of snow. For extra exercise, I went toward Mason to ~3500ft and cleared some of the branches from the trail, and uncovered a few saplings that were being crushed by fallen branches. The snow was set in interesting shelves at that level, firm, but collapsing in places. Overnight and morning temperatures were considerably higher than modeled, what seemed closer to 40F than 30F. Daytime rain and solar heating were softening the area quite a bit.