February 15, 2006, Red Mountain

I skied Red Mountain on the 15th and found about 7 inches of fluff on the upper SW (or maybe more West), facing slope.  The base was smooth, consistant and firm. The base was not hard or icy but seemed a little damp from the warm temperatures earlier this week.  You could easily stomp thru it to the old damp snow beneath This was comforting on this steeper slope.  The dampness made for good adhesion to the new snow though this will be different with different facing exposures.  It would have been good corn skiing sans the new snow, (but then without the insulation affect of the new snow this base may have frozen solid despite the sun).  In contrast there was enough sun on the steepest part of the approach gulley to sluff about 2" of wet stuff when I made my way down.  With the much heralded arctic front's arrival this dampness may/will freeze and make the run a little more exciting.

I didn't make it to the top due to a 1:00 pm start and a few short runs on a north bowl across the valley.  As I climbed higher on Red the base became harder and made it more difficult to skin.  I 'm pretty sure I could have boot packed the final 500' to the summit if I had a means to secure my skis to my pack, but I was out of time anyway.  There were also 2 snow boarders on snow shoes, one turned around with me after he lost his footing and slid down in the minimal sluff about 75'.  The other was below and I don't know if he made it to the top.   The snow on this slope skied like powder with every edge set just skiffing off the old corn snow underneath.   It was very good skiing.  

The north bowl I skied was inferior in new snow depth and base quality and smoothness. The snow was still soft in Commonwealth Basin on the run out because of the earlier warm temps and the insulation of the 2 or 3" of new snow that made it thru the trees.  If this freezes the run out will be much bother.  Given more time I might have prefered an ice axe and maybe crampons for the final 500' to the summit.  This might be more important in the next few days.  Beautiful day and great skiing down.  It will be interesting to see how the cold affects these conditions.