Quick report
Went to the upper parts of the Little Lakes valley today, and a surprisingly good refreeze allowed for excellent travel conditions in the morning, with zero ski penetration on any aspects until about 11 am. Our targeted line was N facing, from about 12,400’ to 11,100’, and we were pleasantly surprised here as well, with all wintery, cold snow in the couloir feature. It was mostly settled, old storm snow, with some areas of chunky wind skin or wind board, but it was all dry snow as of 2 pm, despite oblique sun on the line and skied very well. The ascent was very supportable, with boot pen only to about ankle deep, except in narrow areas around rocks, where we did some wallowing into facets. The apron of the line was much sunnier and lower angle, but still N facing, and still held cold wind affected snow, but it was starting to heat up and transition. On our exit down the valley, we did find mostly wet surface snow, although it was supportable in most locations, if a little sticky, and made skating and poling reasonable. We did not observe any fresh loose instability today, or any signs of instability in our main descent. Temperatures were quite warm all day, but a breeze and some thin cloud cover made things more pleasant. Also of note, the Rock Creek road has two lanes fully cleared to the Hilton Lakes trailhead, but the gate is still closed at the winter closure.