No red flags. We did jump on a few steeper test slopes including some slightly wind affected parts of the ridge near the trees line (see photo) but didn’t see any reactivity.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Eddie’s
A late start on the shortest day of the year. Eddie’s looked inviting from the road and so we headed up the standard. There are now several well established trails through the woods so we ended up arriving to the main slopes via a non standard path. We didn’t dig any pits given the consistency in those over the past few days of observations. Mainly enjoying the warm temps (23 F at the car!) and looking for changes in snow surface and wind effect. A late end to the day too due to the car accident near Portage. Thoughts to all of those involved.
Observer Comments
Weather
Warmer than town! Little wind on the approach with 5-10 mph gusts near the top of the ridge. Saw one small snow tornado, so little in the way of snow transport.
Snow surface
Seems like the warmer temperatures have melted the surface the surface hoar because we didn’t see any of those crystals during the day. On our prior trip to Eddie’s (12/10/22) the surface hoar was impressive in places. Still great skiing but a little denser than that earlier trip. Skis were still penetrating the wind affected snow along the ridge, down 5-10 cm (see photo) but there is a definite wind slap in places. Didn’t notice this off of the ridge though.
Snowpack
No pits but inverted ski pole probes found the Thanksgiving crust in many places, 40-60 cm down.
Ski penetration on the ridge near tree line at Eddie’s.