Fri. March 3, 2009, Smithbrook bail
4/15/09
1180
0
OK, I wasn't going to post this but I want to know if last night's deep cold improved the snow. And NO ONE'S been posting lately.
What we found was an incredibly deep, wet, multilayered, varying density snowpack that had about 14 to 16 inch ski penetration in the skin track. Temps were right at freezing from 3100 to 3700 feet and we were going nowhere! One third of the way up to Lichtenwasser Lake we stripped the skins and bailed. It was already 11:15. No tele turns on account one had to balance weight evenly on each ski to stay afloat and basically point 'em down on the less than 35 degree timbered slope. We went far east today and found much better conditions on snow we had been hitting on Wed and Thurs, wondering why we even tried the Crest.
Here's the thing: did last night's mid-teens temperatures dry out the snow and allow for enough settlement to have good light snow on a base today? I'd love to know. I suspect it could have been awesome today. If so a pre-dawn start tomorrow could be in order on these tired legs!
TM, did it improve as you got higher? Thanks for the leading skin track and valiant effort.
John
What we found was an incredibly deep, wet, multilayered, varying density snowpack that had about 14 to 16 inch ski penetration in the skin track. Temps were right at freezing from 3100 to 3700 feet and we were going nowhere! One third of the way up to Lichtenwasser Lake we stripped the skins and bailed. It was already 11:15. No tele turns on account one had to balance weight evenly on each ski to stay afloat and basically point 'em down on the less than 35 degree timbered slope. We went far east today and found much better conditions on snow we had been hitting on Wed and Thurs, wondering why we even tried the Crest.
Here's the thing: did last night's mid-teens temperatures dry out the snow and allow for enough settlement to have good light snow on a base today? I'd love to know. I suspect it could have been awesome today. If so a pre-dawn start tomorrow could be in order on these tired legs!
TM, did it improve as you got higher? Thanks for the leading skin track and valiant effort.
John
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