Crunchy Cokely

A Friday's venture up Mount Cokely gave us one last swing at checking out the alpine in the sunshine before our next storm hits. While coverage is still rather thin at the parking lot (read dirt), a short boot pack takes you up to the snow. Despite the strong sunshine, the cold wind kept the crust firm all day. Evidence of the past weekend's avalanches and this week's warming is everywhere, but not a single new avalanche could be created. Aside from the debris chunks, the crusty surface skied very smoothly, and we enjoyed our turns on the way down. A layer of small surface hoar makes the snow dazzle, and we will be thinking about it when the next storm finally arrives.