State Road 31 is closed at the top of Fairview Canyon at the junction with State Road 264. Huntington Canyon also remains closed. Parking along the roads is going to be an issue this weekend. You will not be able to access the parking lots along the Skyline Summit/Big Drift area or Miller Flat due to snow removal that still needs to be completed. The closures will most likely last through Sunday.
The series of storms has finally moved out of our area. We received up to 3' of snow containing 5" of water since Sunday. The west southwest wind was quite strong during the week but slowed on Thursday and is currently light. Temperatures are around 20F.
The riding conditions are good with soft new snow everywhere although it is not deep powder. A lot of the snow that fell this week was quite high density. Temperatures on Friday reached the upper 20s to low 30s which created significant settlement of the snow already.
Overall, the snowpack is looking good and becoming more stable. That being said, it is wise to not just go hit the big terrain right out of the gate this morning.
Explosive testing in Huntington Canyon near the Camp Chutes produced no significant results on Friday. This is encouraging as this terrain is somewhat similar to other areas of the higher terrain along the Skyline where the snowpack is fairly deep, consolidated and becoming more stable. Lower Huntington Canyon is a different story with a much shallower and weaker snowpack. This is where trouble is still suspected.
There was one avalanche triggered on Friday between the Fairview Lakes area and the Big Drift. it was about 3' deep. Judging by nearby sled tracks, it looks like it was triggered from a distance. This is near an area where some buried surface hoar caused some avalanche activity recently.
Photo: Cade Beck
