December 27, 2003, Near Jolly, Salmon La Sac

The NWAC posted a high avalanche hazard on the West side for today, so I lobbied for a visit to East side Jolly. The sno-park is a crazy snowmobile scene. It's hard to escape the noise as it carries for miles. (If snowmobiles were required to be no noiser than automobiles the sport would be less popular. Same for motorcycling and jet skiing. It's hard to escape the motor.)  I expected more coverage, but we managed (40-50 inches). The bumpy runs were mogul like. Nice snow 3000-5000', bad (thin, icy) snow under the trees. Poor visibility above 4000' where the skiing, of course, was the best. Stable. 3-6 inches of low density new on an icy, supportative crust then 20-30 inches of uniform, compacted dry old on another hard crust. OK bonding. The avalanche hazard was low to moderate in our estimation. No one else. It started to snow in earnest about 2 pm.