Adverse antics

Warm air aloft brought temps above 1200m elevation to above freezing. 1-2mm breakable crust formed early this morning or late last night, which made for poor riding quality. Temp at parking lot was -5 at 9am and -2 at 3pm. Low snow made for a sporty ski out, with some serious alder bashing. Up top would have been great yesterday, but the bottom needs about another 50 cm to smooth things out, probably even a meter.

Unfortunately, warm air aloft made for poor riding quality and a soggy day up top. Tree bombs were coming down everywhere. It was definitely above 0 higher up and colder in the parking lot.

ECT test no result (could barely pull the block off by hand afterwards - solid!) CTE 4 10cm down on storm interface (uneven break, not concerning) CTM 4 45 cm down on the “prominent crust” (uneven break, not concerning) Overall, the snowpack felt strong. Only concern was 5 cm facetted snow below the thick crust down about 45 to 50 cm. Crust seemed to bridge the weak layer. Lower pack was bombproof. The rime crust thickened with elevation and had 1cm moist snow on top. We skinned to 1640 and it was only getting stronger. Its a shame because theres 30 cm of cold snow below the crust.