Mt Russell

Quick report

Riding Quality

amazing

Skied Mt Russell and enjoyed a beautiful day and spectacular snow conditions, especially at treeline. Approached from roads to the west and gained the S ridge via a steep step out of open trees. Followed S ridge into S basin and then to summit. Weather - cold morning. Clear day, warming to -2 in the alpine, with plenty of solar affect. Winds were calm but picked up to moderate NW with significant snow transport at ridgetop by afternoon. Snow - new SHx on all aspects in am with solar and wind degradation by afternoon save for sheltered/treed areas, where it remained quite preserved. -solar crust with facets below was overlying preserved storm snow on sheltered W and SW areas at TL. This crust was very "crustalanchey" -Skied SW,S,SE,E and NE alpine slopes - surface conditions varied from wind blasted and rimey to sun-softened snow above a crust to dense but preserved powder depending on aspect and wind. At ridge crest, new very shallow wind slabs were forming with the NW wind. -Cornices were well formed on N aspects We skied slopes to 40 degrees in the alpine and TL including small chutes with convex entries with no reactivity in the snowpack. -once solar surfaces were softened, they were very enjoyable -protected powder on WNW glades at TL was spectacular Future concerns based on observations - with one more clear cool night last night and light winds forecast at the start of the approaching storm, it seems that the SHx and facet/crust combos we saw at TL could very well become buried before they're degraded, making new SS and WS touchy, especially in areas of higher accumulation. The shifting wind patterns may create unusual loading patterns that catch folks off guard.