No Presents, Just Powder

It was another cold day in the Pine Pass at -18 with howling winds out of the East. Luckily, breaking trail through 40 cm of soft snow and frequent, deep wind drifts kept us warm on the way up! At Treeline, the winds had been busy reverse loading the slopes and building big drifts on the trail. In open areas, the blowing snow was intense enough to obscure visibility, and drift on the sleds minutes after they were parked. South to west facing slopes had soft but touchy wind slabs about 50 cm deep. We saw shooting cracks in wind loaded terrain and a small avalanche on a crossloaded feature on the power lines. Since the winds were coming from the east to northeast, the usual drifts were being eroded, but wind slabs were forming in all kinds of unusual places. Away from the wind was a very different story. 50 cm or more of blower over the Mid-December crust made for the kind of riding only Santa could deliver! The riding was amazing, what a great early present! Happy Holidays Everybody!