Quick report
Went to the north side of Blackwood Ridge today looking for soft snow, and we were able to find it in sheltered, below tree line areas. From 6400’ to 8000’ on N and NW slopes, we found 10-20 cm of faceted snow, resting atop a very stout rain crust. This crust supported both skis and boots. These conditions make for excellent skiing, but challenging skinning, especially when sidehilling. Despite the soft uncohesive surface snow, there was no sluffing, even on the steepest slopes. On lower angle slopes there was a very thin, breakable solar crust above the facets, but once it got steeper this vanished. On sunny slopes, there was a supportable melt-freeze crust capping the soft snow, which was warming by mid-day. In denser trees, drippings had frozen around many tree bases. On the most exposed NW slopes, just below the summit cliffs at 8200’, there were shallow, small wind deposits. These broke under skis, but did not move downhill. Overall, a surprisingly great day out.