Quick report
Our plan for the day involved ideas about a high traverse in the sunshine starting at Ousel Peak. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a backcountry obstacle/skiercross course under cloudy skies. Thank you to whoever has been working to clear the Ousel trail. It’s a warzone of blowdown which will teach you new yoga moves, sap your will to go skiing, and kept us from putting skis on until about 5300ft due to the intricate complexity of the pickup sticks. Once skiing was possible, there’s the crust, which we found in abundance. More concerning is strange mix of facets, rimed surface hoar, and a thin blanket of snow that makes up the upper 20cms in true north facing, sheltered pockets above 6kft. This is actually soft and skis as such, but it shatters and moves in a way that promises treachery once (in some future) it starts snowing again. Solar and wind affected areas in the upper elevations didn’t have this structure. Skies were overcast or obscured through our tour, and it did snow very lightly (S0.1 was mentioned) during the day. Winds were light and temps were below freezing.