Skating on Becher

Quick report

Weather

sunny

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, openTrees

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes, cutBlocks, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

hard, windAffected, crusty

Took a trip to the top of Becher to enjoy the sunny skies. Skis on from the parking lot with a few tricky icy sections along the skin track. The summit plateau had a clear, breakable icy crust on the NE aspect. Signs of wind transport (fat cornice, strugi, and snow drifts) observed near the summit. We observed a few sheltered pockets of surface hoar in shaded areas. Snow depths ranged from 30 cm to 1m at the summit marker. The ski down was very icy. We found a few ok turns by carefully picking our way down the drainage above the Boston Lake bluffs. No signs of instability observed aside from some thin shearing on wind affected areas near the summit. My question for the next storm cycle is how will the new snow bond to the widespread crust and pockets of surface hoar.