Lena Lake Couloir

Quick report

We headed over to the Eastside to escape the pesky persistent problem. We left the car at 8 and the air temp was 34 at the Firebrand Pass trail head but thankfully clear skies allowed for some radiative cooling and a decent refreeze. Trial runners, ski crampons, and boot crampons were all very helpful today. A snow pit at 7200' on a SE aspect show had an HS of 132 cm with 5cm of F hard wet corn over 10cm of 1 F hard frozen corn on top of 50 cm of 4F to 1 F most rounds, below this the snowpack is dry 1F rounds. We got an ECT-N with moderate force below the refreeze crust and no other results. There were no roller balls or small loose wet slides from yesterday on steep south facing aspects even with the incredible temperatures and solar input. We topped out at 12:30 and missed the prime turns by about 30 minutes but still enjoyed softened, supportable corn skiing. When we returned to the car the air temp was 54.