Yesterday was simply gorgeous up on the mountain, temps could be considered a little chilly in the 10-15 F range at base elevation, but there was no wind and the sun was out so overall it was pretty comfortable.  I did some skiing off Bolton’s back side in the Cotton Brook area etc. and depth checks generally revealed about 20-24 inches of unconsolidated snow before you would reach a substantial base.  There certainly was that thicker layer in the powder somewhere from the bout of sleet, since I could feel it when I pushed my pole down to check the depth, but it wasn’t of any consequence to the skiing.  Overall there was some very light stuff on top (~4-6 inches), then there was some more standard density snow, so you would only sink so deep anyway, but there’s little concern about the backcountry/woods skiing being anything but bottomless.  I’m not sure which layer that is down there at around 20-24 inches, perhaps it’s back from the warm up during the holidays, but I could also push my pole through that one with a little more effort and then I was getting close to the depth of my handle.  I also skied a couple runs on the front side of the mountain, and the upper-elevation trails are still recovering from being blasted by the wind, but the lower mountain trails with natural snow (like Turnpike) were perfect packed powder with powder along the edges.  We’ve just had another 7.3 inches of snow this morning down here in the valley (495’), so there will be at least that much on top of what was there yesterday.  A few shots from yesterday are below:

J.Spin