Found Winter Up High

Went on an exploratory mission to Sugarbowl today to investigate the quality of the uptrack and to see if we could find winter. The lower mountain is a mess- pretty well no snow in the trees from the parking lot to around 1350 m. The only snow here was the recent storm snow and it overlies frozen ground and ice. We bootpacked this section to around 1400 m where we were able to begin skinning. Drastic change in snowpack between 1400-1500 m. Above here, the snowpack was surprisingly deep (our pit was 150 cms, see photo), and is 20-30 cms of light powder on top of a 10 cm thick crust. Made for some really good turns at the top. The return downhill bootpack to the car was treacherous and icy, with many obstacles to navigate and a few butt slides. The lower mountain is very dangerous and not to be taken lightly- we knew what we were getting into, but the hazards of the lower mountain make any mission into the alpine very serious. I would not recommend travel unless you are confident managing a variety of hazards both on your skins and boot packing, in both directions.