March 19 Skyline Ridge

We skied up to Skyline Ridge today. After an uneventful skin up to the ridge we found loads of great, soft powder on the north side of the ridge heading down the drainage that leads out to the PCT. Probably about a foot of powder on a firm base with real fun turning. After dropping off the ridge, we headed up to Peak 5476 to get some views. The southeast facing aspects on the ascent were getting lots of sun. Pretty easy skinning up. Towards the top, the slopes were a bit wind blown but were still easy for turning. Down lower at around 5,000 feet, things softened up a bit but good turning was still possible. On some steeper southeast facing aspects, we kicked off a few small slides... probably the top 3-4 inches of soft stuff on what was still a pretty soft base. Once down off that to the bottom of the valley we again found nice soft powder that made for fun tree skiing on the way down to PCT.

The northwest facing aspects caught a bit of sun late in the afternoon and may crust up a bit overnight. I would expect a lot of crust on any south or southeast facing aspects as there were few clouds and the sun was making stuff pretty soft all day.