Dec 27, 2009, Cerise Cr Duffy

Quick day trip up Cerise Creek last Sunday. This was before the recent snowfall, when it was sunny & a temp inversion across most of the Cascades. Found light boot-top powder/facets on top of a spongy crust - inversion didn't appear to affect that area which is more or less all north facing with limited sun. No wind & not a cloud in the sky. Great skiing with fairly stable conditions, no noticeable slides other than some sluffs, & moderate to hard compression failures about 6 in down on the previous crust - north facing. Between 1 & 2 ft down was a 3 inch sugar layer with nothing holding the snowpack above. The layers above are very dense & seem to be holding everything reasonably well. Needed moderate help to shear that deep layer off & surface was somewhat messy.