11/28, Baker-Table Mountain Area

Headed up to Baker to check out the reported 17" of new snow.  Winter has definitely arrived.  We skinned out towards Table Mt from the upper lot.  We left behind a bunch of folks who were doing laps in-bounds.  Visibility was poor.

Dug a pit on a 30deg, NW slope.  About 3' of total snow there.  About 17" of new snow sat atop a hard, faceted layer.  Shear test popped the upper layer with moderate effort on a clean sliding bed.  Compression test failed the upper surface with the second tap from the elbow.  Did a RB and the upper layer failed at a 1.

Decided to check out S aspects so we hiked to the ridge and popped over a saddle into some S/SE low angle glades.  Dug a pit on a S/SE slope at about 35 deg.  Total snow depth here was probably 5 feet, and the upper layer was closer to 24" deep.  Similar results on shear, compression, and RB as the NW slope.

Skied a couple laps on the low angle slopes, sticking close to the tree line.  The skiing was awesome  Headed back over to the NW side of the ridge and skied down what looked like a fairly popular chute.  Went up for one more and skied what I was told is called the blueberry chutes.  We dropped in a low angle entrance and then through a steeper gully and then it opened up to the apron below.  the steep stuff is sloughing all the new snow and does not give much confidence.  The apron was pure cream though and was well worth the trip for that one 1/2 run. 

Until things warm up and consolidate a bit, that faceted/frozen layer will be a bit scary, especially once a slab develops on top of it.  Keep it safe out there with the early season enthusiasm.