Quick report
We headed up LJ with minimal expectations, looking to get out for a walk, cut out a few trees on the approach and ski some powder up high. We were able to skin nearly all the way from the gate on the road, thanks to a dense inch or two that fell Saturday night/ Sunday morning. At the picnic tables there was 2-3", and above 8,000' there was a foot of fluff. The weather reminded me of many spring days around here, with squally pulses snowing hard for a little bit and then windows of blue sky and a little sunshine poking through before the next squall. On the upper mountain it was cold and wintry; the winds were blowing strong from the predominant SW/S, with plenty of snow available for transport. We dug to the ground at about 8,200' on an E aspect, in some sparse trees and found 120cm of snow on the ground. Our tests did not produce any propagating results, and the 90 cm of snow below the new snow was well bonded and without any notable weak layers. The new snow appears to be bonding well to the old interface. We kept it mellow and skied the mellow trees along the ridge a couple of times, giggling as we wiggled down through the boot top powder. It is certainly still low tide/heads up in the broot! We made it down to about 6,400' before taking the skis off and walking down the rest of the way to protect our bodies and gear.