Corn Flake Snow on Slide Mtn

I toured the south face of Slide Mountain this afternoon. Despite above freezing temperatures overnight and throughout the day, north facing shaded slopes continued to hold cold snow which had not undergone any freeze-thaw. Various textures existed though due to wind effect and snow falling out of trees, making these slopes undesirable to ski.

Our goal for the say was to ski soft south facing slopes, and as per the forecast, we found 3-4 inched of wet snow on top of a solid base, with no concerns for wet snow instabilities even this late in the day. The snow surface resembled coarse corn flakes, ranging in size up to about 8 inches deep. Given the softness of the snow, skiing was actually enjoyable!