Spent today touring around Stagleap Park.
Like many other areas, this past week's cold weather and intense winds have had their effect on the snow. The surface condition is extremely variable, ranging from bulletproof hard slab to soft facetted powder. The wind effect can be found well into the treeline. Tricky ski conditions - a couple cm's of recent snow made it quite hard to predict how the next turn was going to work out.
With so much wind action the snowpack depth was quite variable but averaged about 120cm at 2000m. The cold weather has promoted the growth of facets which were present in the top 40-60cm of the otherwise well settled snowpack.
It shouldn't be too long until the skiing conditions improve with snow forecast for this week, but this thick layer of facets will be one to watch as the season progresses.
Cheers,
Jeff Volp
ACMG Ski Guide