Finally real winter in the La Sals, hopefully much more to come! Oddly, the Christmas rain crust has created somewhat of a supportable "base" for the new snow. But don't let it fool you, the dragon is still lurking if you punch through, which I did to the ground every time I stepped off my skis. Ski lightly!
I had several collapses on N and W facing terrain near treeline today, one of which happened after I jumped hard in 3 separate places on the same test slope. Bottom line: the facets are nearly everywhere we want to ski, and you could get some distance onto a slope before it actually cut loose.
And one final unusual note: the stout rime ice (1-2 cm thick) was raining down off the burned trees all day, sometimes quite dramatically. Where it deposited under the trees formed hard, lumpy, inconsistent snow patches. When these patches re-freeze, watch out! One more obstacle to be aware of as we step out into marginally skiable terrain.
Keep doing your dances, prayers, rituals, whatever works! Hopefully winter will stick around!
