Cats and Socks

<p>Warming to near zero but not quite at the lodge this am at Shames. Rain drop on the up road but snow flakes after switchback. Cooler up higher. No wind to speak of really. High clouds allowed views of nearby peaks no visible natural avi's that I can remember seeing. Couple of cm's over fresh skin track from yesterday. Put fresh tracks in Cat's, two groups made 3 sets of tracks. Snow settling into soft layer cake top 30 or so cm's. About 50-60 of recent storm snow. Shin top in Skin track so still work cutting track. No shooting cracks at all but had one little settling feeling reported by front guy on flats top of Cats on a very mini convex feature. No slabs released by skiis or boards. Slightly heavy fluff that was very surfy to ride. Still up in your face at times. Then out on No socks. Not to sloughy even in the steeps here. Super fun top to bottom. Of interest several wet slides that ran to hwy edge and onto it (but cleaned up by 5 pm) just west of Zymacord hill but before the truck pull out on the left, down steep cliffy rd side. From the lwr valley rain I would presume. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Dense trees, Steep slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy.