Observation: Toledo Bowl

I've been out to Toledo bowl 3 times recently. 1) Sat 3/23 2) Weds 3/27 3) Thurs 3/28.

1) Sat 3/23 - mid morning

I was hoping for corn. The surface was very icy and skiing quality was poor. I skined for about 25/30 min and ran into 3 snowboarders descending the bowl with ice axes in hand. I turned around and went to the resort.

2) Wednesday 3/27 - early morning

Surface was powder. Skiing quality was high.

Our objective was Toledo chute. We skinned up the bowl and then followed the ridge line to the chute. We saw 2 parties descend the chute before us and did not see any signs of instability.

Later in the day day, temps were above freezing with high pressure.

3) Thursday 3/28 - early morning

Near the trail head, I quickly noticed a crust on the surface. Around 8600 ft, this was a 1 finger crust. As I ascended, the crust was fist hard. I dug a handpit on a SW aspect @ 9600 ft. There was a fist hard crust, about 12-18 inches of powder and then the hard, icy layer I was unable to break through from Saturday. The crust was present on all aspects that I traveled on (SE, S, SW). This created very poor skiing conditions. I was able to easily crack through the crust on the ascent.

Winds were blowing hard (25mph gusting to 40+). I could see snow moving around but it was inconsistent which aspects were getting loaded during my ascent. Once I gained the ridge line, I noticed larger cornices above the northerly slopes than I had seen in previous days.

I'll be paying attention to the crust I skied this morning as we load it with more snow.