The first full week of December plunged us full on into winter, with multiple days of snowfall and temperatures well below the Fahrenheit null mark. WP resort reported 38″ of new snow over the past week. Sampling around the trails west of the town of Winter Park on Dec 11 averaged 18-20″ of snow depth on the ground. Wild fluctuations of temperatures have made predictability much less certain. Dec 10th gave us temps above freezing that left some with that frustrating near-freezing condition of snow glom in which no matter what you do, the snow grabs tenaciously onto your ski and won’t let go. A relatively warm snowfall on the cold unconsolidated base leaves us in an upside down condition, with heavy snow on top of light, contributing to decreased stability in the snowpack. Add Sunday nights high winds and we can expect areas of snow-slab, drifting, and exposed areas of thin cover. Watch for downed trees and report them to the local HTA office. With the frequency of new snowfall and snow transport, breaking trail will still be likely in all but the most commonly visited areas. Snowmobiles have yet to pack out many of the trails that are shared with multiple users.
