Skied up the Asulkan valley today. Conditions at parking lot: 0 deg. with 8 cms moist new snow on thin crust from yesterday. Crust disappeared a short way up. We were first up the drainage since last weekend. Trailbreaking was shared by a few keen hut renters. Ski pen/trailbreaking was moderate to heavy with 20 cms halfway up, boottop to knee deep above Mousetrap. Temp -3 at 1600M. Snowpack depth just above Mousetrap: 175cms. Good two meter snowpack in Tree Triangle. Temp -7 at Asulkan Hut.
Sky was mostly overcast with minor breaks, snowing off and on all day, up to 2cm/hr in PM. Some fog and poor vis. Light to Moderate winds in afternoon. A brief opening at Hut allowed us to see up toward Asulkan Pass. Alpine showed extremely variable distribution of last weeks snow due to the high winds, with some ridges and high spots blown clean to gravel, and lees and hollows very deep. There was buried slab on ridge just below hut, an indicator of slab conditions in the alpine.
Limited observations showed no sign of avalanches from last week or currently. At treeline, the upper half of snowpack was mostly unconsolidated, lower half dense. Ski conditions were good, a bit more moist than normal. Didn't do a profile, but ski cuts, hand shears and pole tests indicated reasonable stability in the sheltered location of the treed glades, no significant issues. I suspect different in the alpine. Quite a coastal feel to the snowpack for November. About 50 cms more snow than usual at 1800M for early season.
Russell Lybarger SG.