Quick report
A cold day in the hills. Took half the tour for us to dial in the right combination of clothes-layering; very grateful for insulated pants and all of our various puffy jackets. It was a quiet day in Commonwealth, seemed like everyone who did arrive had the same game-plan of sticking to mellow tree-skiing and hiding from the wind. Coverage at the trailhead was lower than we expected, but the week's new snow sure added welcome depth up high. As we gained the west ridge, the easterly-flow wind made itself evident -- frozen trees were creaking and cracking in an ominous way we've not before experienced. As we skied our first lap to windward, the tree-bombed surface didn't turn up the ski-experience we'd hoped to find. With cold temperatures and scary trees, we turned for home. Skinning up, we encountered a branch that had impaled the skintrack, then several recently-downed trees (see photos). Flipping back to the lee side, ski quality was suddenly excellent cold velvet, so we cycled one more lap before heading out. Luge-track is coming into shape nicely. We were surprised to meet a number of ski-parties ascending at around 1pm. Kendall/Commonwealth radio (3-7) was again quiet today. Palpable instability was limited to some reluctant loose-dry on steeper slopes. No slab activity was visible while we were in the field. Poring over photos at home, there were a couple of tiny slabs on Red (see photos). The near-surface graupel layer was easily noted at the base of the cliffs adjoining the Commonwealth/PCT waterfall. Wind slab was palpable about a foot under the snow surface along the small open sections of the treed west ridge.