Jan 26, 2008, Slot

Eric, Bill and I headed out this morning to poke around and see what the conditions were like. 

Left the cold (10?) parking lot some time after 7am, booted most of the way up the phatom, in a pretty nice bootpack put in by a boarder...since we were making good progress we kept with the boots over skins.

It started snowing at about 8am and felt quite warm at (but still cool) at the top.  We scoped the slot and it looked like others had been able to make turns...but we were still concerned about surface conditions...the entrance was easier than any other time I've skied it, no pucker factor at all, edges could grip really well.  We were hopeful about the surface conditions after the first few turns, but quickly realized that it was pretty variable.  It seemed like we'd have 5 turns at a time alternating between wind affected powder, wind hammered (ice) and breakable crust.  We poked around a bit and ended up taking the long way out and had some fun down into the Alpental valley, back to the car about 1pm.

Observations & Opinions:  The snow was falling with a bit of wind and there was a lot of sugary snow out there.  It will be quit interesting to see what happens in the next few days.  I think that a lot will depend on what it's falling on and how warm it gets...but it will certainly be a time to keep alert to the variability.

Later...steve

100:  Months skied for Bill
88:  Months skied for me
10: Finalist left in the Miss America Pagant (my wife is watching, really, not me)
2:  Beers so far tonight
1:  Cocktails so far tonight