Hard Crust

Today's lunchtime outing features a 90 minute trek across nearly bomb-proof crust. It didn't have a hardened ice surface, it was nice and cruncy like running on granola bars. We even did some relatively steep down- and up-hill and the grip factor was pretty high. Danville is just covered in the stuff. Spanky on 4ft of Snow


There's a slight complication with streams running a little high from the intense rains we had, but the hard freezes have cemented the snowpack and the water will have to find new/temporary routes.

In some of the most sheltered spots it's still possible to drop two or three feet in soft pockets, but those are pretty rare. Any well worn trails (falling waters, for example) are probably crampon-only, but off trail is going to be good for barebooting. The posthole problem is pretty severe and I think something like the Lincoln Ridge would be good in snowshoes in the trees, and then crampons above treeline.

I'm ripe for an outing.