Sunshine!!
10-15 mph ridgetop winds
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Pyramid
Decided to start a ski tour from 150′ above sea level. That was a mistake.
Managed to find some fun skiing anyway.
Sunshine easily beats out great snow this close to solstice.
Weather
Snow surface
150'-1350' rain crust. simply terrible. survival skiing.
1350'-1550' some snow over an edgeable crust.
1600'-2100' magic powder skiing zone on E through SE aspects
2100'-2600' highly variable wind effected surface, some good skiing.
above 2600' hard sastrugi
In one slim elevation band there was great powder skiing
Above ~2,100' the wind took most of the snow, but the surface is still ok to ski
Sastrugi on ridges. The far side of Seattle Creek (Big Chief Mountain) looked really fat! Only non-scoured slopes in sight
Orca and Petersen Creek area are stripped to dirt on many slopes
Wolverine Bowl is stripped to dirt in many places. Also, noticed a crown in the trees on Wolverine's south Ridge, marked in red. Probably a few days old.
fast skiing surfaces make choosing low angles easy.