Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
We toured from Twin Lakes up into the alpine of Blacksmith canyon. We got a casual start because temps were cold and W winds were still strong above 10k, although they'd come down considerably since the night prior. We spanned an elevation zone of 7k to 11.5k. In case you haven't heard, coverage is great all the way to the trailhead, and much more skiable than some seasons. We skied an East aspect off Mt Walt, and a North aspects of the Crest West of Blacksmith Peak. We found high quality, wind blown powder on both aspects. Although the wind was visibly blowing plenty of snow around, we found very little evidence of wind slab in this isolated zone. The snow was most certainly drifting, but mostly in unconsolidated drifts, some up to 3ft deep. The cracking that we could find was isolated to our ski lengths, and even the punchy wind ski was thin and isolated. We observed no evidence of natural avalanches newer than a week or so old, although there were plenty of large slides visible from the recent ARs. The winds and ambient temp kept things much too cold for wet snow instabilities, and we skied cold snow all the way back to the car.