January 10, 2017, Phantom Trees

Dawn run with Justin and Ari today. Snow below 5k and in the trees was faceshot blower, really incredible.  We ventured about 500 feet up into the more open terrain and found variable depths of powder over an old ice/sun crust that made the skiing a bit less predictable, though still much fun.  Second lap with the sun coming out showing the beginnings of soft slab consolidation in the top 4-8" of storm snow, which broke easily and ran on the crust on steeper terrain, even down in the trees (where we had one 12" slab break with some propagation in low consequence terrain as we approached the crown from above).

Excellent day.  We skied conservatively given the NWAC moderate->considerable upgrade and the unfamiliarity of partners - none of us had skied together before today.  Excellent discussion and good decision making.  Should stay good (and get better) for a while with the coming cold weather, but that crust layer may come into play when loaded more fully.