Went for a short-lived tour on Elk Mt. today and pivoted to Essex because of cold and wind-affected snow.
Elk: Cold! Skied the south bowl about halfway up and the wind was blowing snow in multiple directions throughout the day. The skiing was not very good and was deteriorating throughout the tour. Some cracking under skis and wind slabs started to gain thickness and reactivity as we got above 6000'. New snow was about 6-8'' deep where it wasn't transported by wind.
Essex: Some signs of dry loose sluffing, but no signs of slab instabilities. However, we kept it low angle and tried to avoid wind-affected snow. New snow was about 10-12'' deep.
Did not dig today. Too cold to stand still :).
