12-12-16 Mt Hood south of Barlow snopark

The weather was cloudy with little to no wind and no new snow falling.  Toured south of Barlow on the PCT mid-morning in knee to thigh deep on the skin track.  The difficulty began once leaving the beaten track as pole probing revealed about 60" of unconsolidated with ski penetration of 16 to 20".  Major concerns were tree bombs and tree wells.  The remainder of the climb to the ridge top was difficult, and I really didn't have much ambition to get in turns, as the 1000' climb out didn't sound too appetizing, but once there the temptation was too great. I was guessing that the 30 degree slope would not be steep enough for the depth of snow, but it skied really well, and pace was not an issue. The top had 100' of wind buff transitioning to low density pow for the rest of the descent.  As I suspected the climb out was a bear, taking almost 2 hours.  It would have been nice to be partnered to share trail breaking, but mid week partners are scarce.  No other skiers on the trail.

Stability was not an issue.  The area skied was a mix of scree and boulder fields and trees with lots of anchors.