Despite warm temps and lack of new snow, I went skiing today. I figured at least, it was just exercise. But because temps were low at night, I thought I might find some dried out old powder.

Windy Ridge

Skiing in was a pleasure. Bluebird day, not a breath of wind, and only one car in the parking lot. I passed the group from the first car on the way in. They were turning off so I had the place to myself.

I climbed to the top of Windy Ridge. The Ridge was hammered by wind and skiers so I continued on to some north-facing bowls in Burbank Creek drainage. As I suspected, the snow had been protected from the warm temps. Nice consolidated powder on top of a firm base. The base was about 20 inches and had about 5 inches of TG snow at the bottom. I thought the upper layers were bonded well and created a bridge over the rotten snow at the bottom. That seemed to be the case as there was no settling or movement when I jumped on the snow in several places.

So I went for it. Great skiing all the way to the bottom.

Even though it was good in Burbank, I wanted to try the southern most ridge on the Windy Ridge Bowl. It had some tracks and the snow looked very good. Plus, I had only skied it once and I wanted to explore that terrain. Very spectacular area, nice, long fall line, and the snow was perfect. Firm, consolidated powder on top of a very firm base. A perfect ending to the day.

Lesson Learned: Go and see for yourself. The snow is often better than you expect.

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