Great turns, Nasty Alder

Scared of what I would encounter, I chose a strong USFS snow ranger to help me battle the brush on my first Middle Fork excursion of the season.

• There is surprisingly good low elevation coverage for December 20 in the drainage we traveled. 
• Unfortunately, alder has overtaken the upper portion of the trail we utilized along with the lower sections of the slopes we wished to ski.
• The recent rain/wet snow event from Saturday night/Sunday morning presented itself as a several-inch thick crust at low elevations. This crust thins and eventually disappears in the mid-elevation band.
• The Sunday mid-morning Arctic air intrusion froze this crust and allowed subsequent moisture to fall as lovely low-density snow. Monday morning, there were four inches of recent snow on top of the crust at 4000 feet, eight inches at 5400 feet, and a strong ten inches at 6500 feet, where the new snow sat on a denser layer. Several inches of snow fell during the day today. 
• Winds were calm for most of the day except for brief gusty conditions at ridgeline elevation. In the late afternoon, wind speeds increased and affected the mid-elevations.
• Visibility was generally poor and did not allow us the opportunity to search for recent avalanches.