December 4-5, 2013, Mt Hood, Timberline/Tilly Jane

December 4th: Supposed to be cold but wasn't. Under cloudless skies toured up through T-line and out onto the Zig-Zag glacier. The zig-zag was dappled blue ice with occasional chalky wind-drifts. Skied like bad. Inside of timberline the Palmer was as-yet ungroomed wind-board that skied decently. The best skiing was found above the palmer, below triangle moraine, on the lookers right side bordering the white river glacier, and then down a smaller gully below the terrain park.

Avy: Wind drifts prevalent on Easterly aspects. Large, one-finger hard slabs that loom hard to trigger but massive.

December 5th: Up from the Tilly Jane TH, past Tilly Jane, and straight up to the stone shelter. Coverage up to tilly jane is spotty. Skinnable 95% of the way with some deadfall. Above TJ the snow improves markedly to treeline. Above treeline, the snow is mostly wind-affected and stiff, with some sheltered soft stuff. The best skiing was in the 700' vertical around tree-line.

Avy: around tree-line, at the good skiing, the pack is still shallow, with lurking rocks. With the cold weather, the upper pack has faceted out, with some surface hoar formed in sheltered areas. The lighter new snow sits atop a very stiff bed surface with small facets at the interface. In some steeper, more westerly aspects, the new snow has more cohesiveness, and forms a ~15 cm slab atop facets on a bed surface. (See attached photo) This is not yet a problem, but could be with additional wind load or new snow.