Chasing the fleeting fox
Trip date: Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Submitted by MaSid
Particpants:
Discussion:
Headed for north fox again with Aqua Toque on AT gear, hoping for dry powder (it was so good last week, what could go wrong?). Sunny and mild to start. Fast grooming on elk pass with a bit of back slippage on wax to start and some light debri from yesterday’s winds. Better grip approaching Patterson with a dusting of surface hoar in open areas. Still sunny going up blueberry but part way up the ridge on fox at about 11 it clouded over and started snowing, and snowed moderately for the rest of our outing. Sun crusts were present in open sun exposed areas even at 8000 ft. The main north descent was still powder, but more settled, fast (especially with our old tracks) and unforgiving. Not the hero snow of a week ago by far. Still a fun day of exercise. Back at the grooming things were nice for the descent with the thin layer of new snow giving good smooth glide. Grooming should be in good shape tomorrow as a result. No significant icy bits on elk pass trail. Feeling the need to make up for the lacklustre powder up high, we squeaked out some turns (without trees!) in the final powerline run direct to the parking lot. Powder in the upper half, fast supportive sun crust in the lower angled half. The film crew didn’t even pull out the gear today.