Wow. The mountains are on. The roads to all the trailheads have been plowed. Thank you San Juan County. LUNA volunteers went up on Wednesday and groomed some wide corduroy into Gold Basin and over Geyser Pass. Thank you Mark Weissinger and Ed Oak. Ski tracks are set up Pack Creek, towards Warner Lake, into Gold Basin and the Burro Pass area. Snowmobiles have been having fun up around La Sal Pass and Dark Canyon. All we need is some fat bikes and tracked motorcycles and we'd be in multi-winter-sport heaven.

With 44" (110 cm) of settled snow at the Gold Basin study plot and close to 80" (200 cm) falling in December alone, the backcountry skiing conditions have been blessed with good stability, decent coverage and cold smoke. No collapsing, cracking or recent avalanche activity was noted on Wednesday's tour and stability tests yielded hard compression tests and no propagation on extended column tests. Obviously, I did not spend my entire day digging in the snow...careful evaluation should be exercised by any touring party heading into avalanche terrain.

Our snow pack is still on the shallow side and cold night time temperature could still drive facet development, radiation from the sun will develop crusts on south and west aspects (especially below tree line) and the upper snow pack will be transforming into near surface facets on shady sides of the compass. For the next couple of days, the wind should not be a factor.

Although these weather conditions will start to change the snow slowly over time, remember that the biggest disturbance in the mountains will be you and your party. By all means, get out there and enjoy a special opportunity in southeast Utah, just remember to practice safe travel techniques and manage terrain wisely.