Geyser Pass Road: The road is plowed to the trailhead. Surface is dirt down low, snowpacked and icy above. AWD with good tires recommended.

The road above the trailhead officially closes to wheeled vehicles on Sunday, Dec 15. Grooming will commence shortly thereafter.

SW winds continue to crank over the ridge tops gusting to 40 mph for a few hours around midnight. They'll back off and shift to more westerly today as the trough axis moves on into Colorado. Today look for sunny skies, light to moderate westerly winds, and high temps in the mid 20's. Long range models are beginning to show some snow right around Christmas.

Conditions are officially a mixed bag and with overall thin cover, it's getting harder to find good turns. Ridgetop winds continue to erode snow from south and westerly aspects while depositing snow on to leeward, north and easterly facing slopes. I've received a few reports of isolated wind slabs cracking out in the high country including this one from Aaron Kawcak. The sun has also greatly affected solar aspects and many are bare or crusted over.

Structure remains poor with a weak, faceted layer beneath a slab, but stability tests have been generally non-reactive. Nevertheless, this classic combination of dense slab, over weaker, faceted snow, is very difficult for avalanche forecasters to trust. So how do we handle it? We either continue to avoid avalanche terrain altogether, or we dip our toes into it. We definitely avoid areas of steep, rocky, radical, and wind affected terrain. We don't just center punch the biggest lines. We choose moderately steep, planar slopes less than 35 degrees, and we avoid likely trigger points such as steep convexities, or shallow points along slope margins and near rock outcrops. We remind ourselves that it's early season, that avalanches are still possible, and we proceed with great caution.

Gold Basin Storm Stake (10,000')

Gold Basin SNOTEL site (10,000')