Essex Creek carnage

Toured up Essex Creek to the Flathead Divide headwall, then climbed and skied the NE aspect of Adams. Took another mid-afternoon lap on a NE aspect beneath Cameahwait. 

• At long last, a stout refreeze made travel efficient and enjoyable. 
• Above 5000'; generally 1-4 inches of recent snow, from 3/26, sat atop a supportable crust. 
• Winds were uplsope, upcanyon (from the E/NE) and kept the surface cool throughout the duration of our tour.  These sustained winds were more pronounced and gusty along ridgelines, although little snow was available for transport, West slopes were being loaded and East, windscoured. 
• Great skiing conditions existed 100' below Mt. Adams as the stronger winds subsided. Not-quite-bootop-sastrugi-pow skied surprisingly well and soon transitioned to perfect corn skiing below 6000'.
• South aspects between 6000-5000' had the best corn. We scurried up the headwall for another lap and found cooler surface conditions on NE aspects (6000-5000'). 
• Overcast conditions in the afternoon kept the crust supportable, and skatable, making for a fun exit. 
• Mid-elevation, S facing slopes off Essex Mtn had flushed with last weeks nuclear meltdown (see photo)