Essex

Take home message from todays tour- both the climb and descent were extremely difficult. The skiing was horrendous. •Overnight readings showed upper elevations warming to near-freezing (this progressed to above-freezing throughout the day/mid 30s) and valley cold pools remained strong in the Essex area below 5500'. •Freezing rain overnight created an eggshell-thick crust up to 5500' •Above 5500' glopping and deep trail breaking were on the menu as rain and warm temps saturated the upper 2" of the snowpack, capping dry powder underneath •Dripping branches, tree bombs, and rainfall deterred us from going any higher than 6800'. We experienced oppressive glopping conditions on the descent and ended up freeing our heels, stomping downhill, with nature's heel risers adding to the misery. •We eventually made it back down to the valley cold pool where a breakable-eggshell-freezing-rain-crust existed with bottomless, baseless powder underneath. •Any crowns observed in the alpine occurred mid-storm and were mostly filled in (not exceeding D2 in size). Multiple wet loose, point release (D1s) were observed in steeper terrain and didn't run long or entrain much debris. Although settlement-cracking was observed among all elevation bands on isolated features, collapsing was common and surprisingly widespread below 5500'. Above 5500' whumpfs/collapsing were not common. A few, upper elevation windslabs were present which offered reprieve from deep trail breaking. No instabilities observed within the windslab and winds didn't appear the have much affect in this area.

Essex

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