Quick report
Skied the E/SE facing gully off the East peak of Mt. Dana above Gibbs Lake today, and found several distinct snow surfaces. It was chilly at the car to start, with an air temp of 12F. Touring up and descending the Gibbs lake trail below tree line, I found only soft, faceted surface snow, which was very pleasant. There was 2-4” of this soft snow present in the shady canyon, with the only hard surface being the old skin track. Breaking out of tree line was a different story. I found multiple surfaces in the gully proper, depending on aspect. The lower section, which faces more E, had several inches of moist snow on the skier’s left wall, which faces more south, and firm wind board with just a touch of facing on the skier’s right wall, which faces N. The upper section, which tilts more to the SE, was windboard, but it was warming in the sun, with up to an inch of moist snow, making for great turns. At the very top, the shaded right wall held some wind textured snow, which had undergone some faceting. I descended around 12:30, and the shade had crept across the lower portions of the gully, which immediately put a thin punchy crust on the sections of warmed snow. I didn’t expect the sun to have such an impact today, but it was very warm inside the walls, and was definitely a factor. By the time I got back to the car, it was 41 F and close to 50 in town.