March 6-9, 2008, Wallowa Mtns. OR.

We arrived to find that the first warm up since winter had consolidated the snowpack. An additional 18 inches of fresh fell the day before arrival and was well bonded to the older layers. A shovel tap test on a 30 degree slope resulted in 10 hits from elbow pulverizing the fresh snow without budging the underlayers. The only indications of snow movement were at the steepest chutes. Sunny weather on day 1 made for an enjoyable trip in but cooked the surface at angles exposed to the sun. We focused on North and North East exposures and were able to find fresh turns for the rest of the trip. The clouds lifted on day three and we went out with the intention of yoyoing some of the closer in freshness but got distracted into a fantastic tour with views from the Snake River to the Blue Mountains. Had the place to ourselves.