December 24
My friend Jodi, Brian's sister is in town from Mammoth. Good skier and good ski partner.
Started at White Pine parking and ascended White Pine eventually traversing over to Lake peak ascending the shoulder
and descending a narrow chute two pitches to the flats.
Ascended the gully continuing up Red Baldy to near the summit. Descended the main face continuing with left traverses to the big meadow and out White Pine.
Weather:
It was a bluebird with just a bit of wind from time to time along the ridges.
Snow:
The crust factor was in play to about 9000 feet with settled dense powder and wind packed above to around 11'000. There was little indication of instabilities with only localized wind drifting from the recent northern winds. The new snow has settled out to about 4 inches over a mostly spongy base. Crusts remained firm into the afternoon at lower elevation shady but did melt on the sun exposed. I saw one recent wet slide in a south facing gully across from the parking area, with the snow involved new snow only.
Bottom Line:
Snow is mostly stable with potential for a few lingering wet slides if it warms and some potential lingering pockets of active wind drifts.