La Sal Mountains
The mountains picked up 2"-4" of spongey snow and graupel from Thursday night's event. This was enough to improve conditions a bit and yesterday I found good "dust on crust" on south faces, and smooth, fast, dry conditions in sheltered areas. The real story this week has been the wind however, and as they say, Mother Nature giveth, Mother Nature taketh away. Much of the snow we received early this month has been stripped away by northerly winds. Exposed ridge tops that once had new slabs up to 2' deep, have now been stripped to near bare ground. Upper bowls and cirques alternate between wind scour and crusts, to settled, dense, creamy snow. There are good skiing and riding conditions out there, you just have to pick and choose. Winds have finally tapered off, steadily decreasing overnight and are currently blowing 10-15 mph from the NW. The temperature at 10,000' is 12 degrees.
Winds and temperature on Pre-Laurel Peak (11,705')
Temperature and new snow totals in Gold Basin (10,050')
Total snow depth and temperature near Geyser Pass Trailhead (9850')
Abajo Mountains
Mother Nature has not been kind to the Abajos. 2" of new snow fell at Buckboard Flat Thursday night, but low snow conditions still remain. Winds through the week have only added insult to injury. The snow pack depth averages between 18" and 36", but some sun and wind exposed slopes are showing bare ground. Westerly winds are a little stronger on Abajo Peak, averaging 15-20 mph and still gusting to 30. It is 27 degrees at 9000' .
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Winds and temperature on Abajo Peak (11,330')
Snow totals at Camp Jackson (8968')