Report from December 27, 2025

0ºF at the top of the mountain.

Lower Body:

Long johns
Puffy shorts
Shell pants

Upper Body:

Base layer
Micro puff jacket (size L)
Micro puff jacket (size XL)
Shell jacket

Dropped into the backcountry and made sure to keep our bodies permanently exposed to the photon stream pouring onto the mountain from our nearest G-type main-sequence star.

Mike had a detailed analysis of the snow damage the wind had caused so our expectations were low.

Until we dropped in…

The snow was immaculate.

Deep, dry, very cold, and exploding off our skis, legs, and chests.

The snow was fast and fun despite being a bit “sandy” feeling.

When it gets really cold the snow feels kinda like sand becuase it doesn’t melt against your skis and create the glide it normally does.

I was fired up.

We didn’t ski too far down but the deep snow made for a stout challenge getting outta there.

We got warm enough to strip down just one puffy jacket on the way up.

At the top, we put it all back on and skied the 4,314 freezing vertical feet back to the car where I split off to my warm motel room.

Amazing day.

Note: there was a size 2 avalanche near where we were on this day with a skier caught and carried. There was another skier involved avalanche across the valley this day.

Thanks, BC!