Sunny and breezy afternoon at Spooner

Moderate to strong W winds along ridgetops, which appeared to be just enough to prevent significant surface weakening by my departure at 3pm. In more wind sheltered terrain, the snow surface was slightly softer/deeper, but still no wet instabilities were observed. Ski, track, and boot penetration were never more than 2-3 inches, and everywhere I dug, I found 6-8 inches of supportable snow right under the surface. This included under dense tree cover, and also at my low point of 7100ft.

Plenty of snow remains in this area for recreating, though recent tracks were sparse from the Spooner side. The commercial snowmobile tour operation is even still grooming.