5 Mile area

Skinned West aspect to 1000m through highly variable snow conditions and not-yet-filled-in slide alder. Some areas had thick, impenetrable windslab, breakable suncrust, soft snow in the sun and sastrugi to 20cm in height. This place and the whole Haines Pass area got hammered by extreme Northerly winds on Dec 28th. Surface facets forming lower down where the temperatures were still cooler. A well consolidated snowpack overall ~120cm average. Not quite at threshold for these parts. A strong inversion persists in the area with roadlevel temps around -8C and ridgetop temps around +2C. No signs on instability. A fun "adventure day" skiing in the backseat to avoid catching an alder...