Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
In a sentence, beautiful day, long tour, crappy turns and cold temperatures. Specifically, from 5,300' starting point up to ~6,800' there's surface hoar and the breakable crust below it... might vary in size, but are everywhere. The only supportive crust is right up near ridge lines and it is hard and slick. Ski crampons advised for peak baggers, at least the top couple hundred feet.I tried all of my sheltered favorites on various aspects, with no relief. Visibly, there are lots of old wind humps, even mid-slope. On the steep west facing and east facing slopes, old roller ball channels abound from warmer days. No old avy activity, which was a bit surprising. Summary: Large surface hoar sitting on a thick, breakable crust with faceting (rotting) snow underneath it down to the next crust, about a foot deep, don't give me warm-fuzzies for when our next storm decides to show up, depending on the moisture content and temperatures. Access down low is tough for sleds off the east shore road. The snow is thin and icy to about 3,000' on FS roads. The road is as icy as I've ever seen it to about 3,300', so trucks trying to get as high as possible might want chains or experiment with different road access.