To state the obvious, yesterday’s high winds did not improve the riding conditions much. Even the mid elevations took a hit from the high wind speeds. The trail up to Dog Lake is riddled with broken branches, pine needles and even a few good sized downed trees. The upper elevation open terrain such as Reynolds NE face is wind jacked with hard slippery wind slabs and breakable wind crusts, the old tracks are also firm. There was some soft dense settled powder in wind protected areas. Jumped on a bunch of wind pillows couldn’t get any to crack out, they seemed pretty welded in place today. What was a loose faceted surface a few days ago is now dense, compacted and creamy and also damp down lower in the drainage. The new snow that was falling today was somewhat damp and should bond well to the old surface.

photos: wind slabs up on the ridge line, trees snapped by wind yesterday, and some creamy dense snow in the wind protected trees.