It was a blustery day in the mountains this morning. We headed out early and had heavy snowfall above 8000 feet until about 11:00 then the storm tapered off and got warmer as it got later in the day. The riding conditions were great for riding with 5 inches of creamy medium density powder on top of last week's storm snow. We stuck to North facing terrain and found good riding conditions. It started to get a little damp when we left around noon. There is NOT enough snow to safely ride sleds so we kept the snowmobiling to a minimum and have been surprised to see so many people risking their Snowmobile’s A-Arms…

We dug an avalanche pit on a north east facing 34 degree slope at around 8800 feet in elevation. We were further away from the front range than we were a few days ago and found the snow depth was only about 36 inches total. Our compression tests showed failures at 15 and 20 taps in the weak faceted snow at the interface between last weeks storm snow and the old November snow. Our Extended Column Test was pretty similar (see video below). We had a failure at 21 taps that surprisingly did not propagate (ECTX21).

On the way down the canyon it was raining below 7000 feet. We notice a bunch of wet slab activity across from the backside of Beaver Mountain (just across from Moon Rock). We also saw plenty of pinwheels indicating deteriorating surface cohesion in the snow.

Conditions are pretty decent for Snowboarding or Skiing (above 8000 ft) but there is definitely not enough snow for snowmobiling. Unless you work for a snowmobile repair shop, then I think they would say there is plenty, hahaha. Merry Christmas!!!