Xmas ski: Table Mountain with friends

We circumnavigated Table mountain on a beautiful bluebird Christmas day. A lot of people were out touring around the Baker ski area, the typical scary frenzy that is Bagley lakes on a powder day. The Ptarmigan ridge area is a great "stash" away from the crowds and with generally mellow terrain which is still great for skiing.

We encountered great boot-top or slightly deeper powder everywhere with little wind effect. There was a thin, still skiable sun crust on steep solar aspects. We dug a pit and found sensitivity about a foot down and were able to trigger one small, steep test slope below treeline. This confirmed that the circumnav was a good choice for the day (despite many folks getting after it in steep terrain)---you never have to travel on any too steep slopes, although you traverse underneath some on the S side of Table as well as when crossing lakes on the N side.

Did a couple laps off Ptarmigan before finishing on the circumnav. Great day!