Echo Lakes

I was glad to have a warm parking lot puffy as I put my boots on and straightened my skins in the Echo Lake SnoPark this morning. Upon leaving the SnoPark it appeared we were the first crew of the day. We followed an established skin track from the Echo Lakes road to the Becker ridge. Well below tree line the skin track was little changed from yesterday, but as we gained elevation and approached the ridge we noticed wind blown snow had accumulated in the skin track. At first it was just a few inches but higher on the ridge, the whole skin track was filled in, and in exposed areas it appeared that almost all the snow around the skin track had been blown away by the previous winds. We saw widespread evidence of wind textured snow and shooting cracks in wind slab on small test slopes. In general, this area could still use a significant amount of snow to cover the large boulders and down trees. With some good route finding it is possible to find sufficient coverage for enjoyable skiing, but some luck is also helpful for avoiding obstacles. North facing terrain below treeline held very high quality soft snow.