Feb 3, Esmeralda Basin - Killer POW

We parked at Teanaway/29 Pines Snow Park and snowmobiled the 10 miles along the closed road to Esmeralda Basin Trailhead. We weren€™t sure what to expect but we were stoked to see the snow coverage increasing as we got deeper we got into the Teanaway. When we got to Esmeralda Basing we parked the snowmobile and started skinning up to longs pass in about 1 foot of blower powder on top of some soft stuff (the making of an awesome day). We took a conservative up route through the trees and stopped at the first €œterrain shelf€ just south of the Ingalls Tr and Long Pass tr. Junction to dig a snow pit. The blower quality snow had increased to about 2 feet.  Unfortunately there was an ice layer about 30€ down with what looked to be buried surface hoar on top that released on the 2nd elbow hit during the isolated column test (SW aspect). With this new information we decided to live to see another day and egress down through the trees. As we descended down through 2+ feet of blower we hit a few pockets of blower that were over 3€™ deep which to a Washington boy feels bottomless. All in all a fun trip to a beautiful area. I am definitely going to head back out there next Monday if Avi conditions get better.