Lone Tree Gulch

Made the walk back to Lone Tree Gulch to have a look at the higher peaks near Arkose and get a general idea of the coverage and potential in the area. We were drawn to the obvious SW facing panels at the mouth of the valley and were rewarded with a long, smooth, consistent run. We toured back up the valley for a second lap and climbed to a col that brought us to a NW facing couloir that deposited us near the mouth of Lonesome Mine. Despite the long time since we've received any new snow and recent warm temperatures, we found lots of relatively soft, faceted snow. Overall conditions feel pretty Free Ride out there with only surface conditions and minor instabilites to contend with. 

Observed widespread surface faceting even on solar aspects. Slopes that had previously avalanched were either thin or reloaded, but many were again entirely faceted. Encountered some areas of stiff wind board and some areas of more breakable or supportable wind skin, but for the most part travel was smooth and fast. The sun effect continues to increase and in addition to some very isolated areas of sun crust we experienced some surface dampening on steeper direct solar aspects.