Weekend Conditions 2/19-21

Snow depth (33"at Lake Colden and 5' at 4,00 feet) is not an issue as far as skiing goes, but surface conditions are not quite as nice as we would like due to the rain and sleet that fell at the end of Tuesday's storm.  The snow depth is sufficient to make it mandatory to be wearing skis or snowshoes anywhere in the High Peaks, and they should be worn elsewhere.

Because of the rain/sleet on Tuesday, there is now a breakable crust on most, if not all, of the areas where we report. Any travel on areas that had not been previously broken out will now be very difficult due to the crust. Most of the trails reported on below had been broken out before Tuesday's storm, but the surfaces are now a very fast loose granular with crusty deep snow on the side.  As long as one can stay in the broken track, no problem; but a ski out of the broken track will be very problematic.  The ski route to Avalanche Pass had been broken out wide, so plenty of room to maneuver there (metal-edged skis preferred), but trails with lesser hills that earlier didn't require turning or at least snowplowing will be a problem now that the loose granular surfaces will result in increased speed.

We apologize for this somewhat "generic" report, but we don't yet have reports from all of the trails aside from the ever-popular Avalanche Pass trail.

The weekend weather will start out with some light snow and temperatures in the low 20s.  We expect a warming trend into next week with some additional light snow and temperatures warming to mid-30s.  Mercifully, so far no rain in sight.