Quick report
We toured up Monroe Brook with the intention of assessing conditions for the ski out after dropping into Robinson’s Neighborhood. We were expecting to find firm conditions the whole way but were greeted by a nice coating of fresh snow down low to about 1200m. From 1200 to 1300m we found firm but edgeable snow, softer than the wind board skied on 2/15. About 1300m the snow was very wind-compacted with some hard wind-sculped drifts mixed with very soft fresh wind drifts and low visibility conditions making route finding and snow assessment a challenge. While we did see evidence of developing wind crust in the fresh snow with the cohesion of the top .5-1", we did not see any evidence of propagating cracks or instability. Under the fresh snow, the pencil-hard wind board was noticeable in more showered locations and it was possible to break through into the four-finger layer beneath while booting up. No whumping or other evidence of settling was observed. We arrived at the Lake of the Clouds hut under pretty steady gusts of 25-25mph wind and decided not to continue into Oakes due to less-than-fun conditions. The traverse back over to Monroe Brook was a mix of soft snow over the tundra and firm rimy snow over the rocks with both hard and soft wind drifts. Once in the ravine, the first 100m of descent required mostly controlled turns on a firm windboard with low visibility but once we reached 1350m, the skiing from there down was quite nice and worth the effort.