Narrow corn window at Red Lake Peak

Slightly warmer temperatures than anticipated at Red Lake Peak today, which provided for a narrow window of enjoyable corn skiing. With even the slightest change in aspect, surface conditions became firm. On shaded slopes, a crust/facet combo was observed at the surface. Some very small surface hoar was also observed on top of the crust.

Pic 1: The Dec 11th facets are still an obvious weak layer here, at the bottom third of this snowpit. The snow in the middle was very strong. The surface crust/facet combo is visible in the top 4 inches.

Pic 2: Wind and sun hammered surfaces throughout this area, with a strong crust that made for challenging skinning.