January 3, 2010, Skyline Lake

Myself and three others ventured up the slope opposite Stevens Pass inbounds to skyline lake and the area north of the lake.  I was the newbie of the group so I don't really know all the names of the peaks...  We arrived at the parking lot at about 8:20 and quickly skinned to the top.  On the way up the SSE slope snow was about 3 in of moderately light snow on top of a very heavy 10" plus followed by almost pole deep settled snow (didn't evaluate the moisture content but it seemed heavy).  We had a nice run down the backside as the sun started to pop through the fog, but the snow was awkwardly heavy.  Overall no complaints for what I was expecting based on recent warming trends.  We skinned back up to the top of the peak just northwest of skyline lake (this time farther north and west of where we skied down the first time)  and had a quick lunch in what was becoming cloudy, wet foggy and slightly windy air.  I seriously needed to warm my hands back up so we started down the gully on some startlingly nice snow.  The cooler temperatures seemed to have firmed up the layer below the first 3-4" so we didn't sink in as much and the skiing was considerably better (although less powdery).  We only made it about halfway down when a group member decided they had reached their maximum energy level and wanted to make his way up and over back to the car.  Going down the front side we had some beautiful turns before we hit the throng of sleaders/snowshoers/dog walkers toward the parking lot.  The air seemed cooler when we left (say mid to high 20s compared to low 30s when we arrived).  We pulled out of the parking lot sometime just before 3pm.  Not a bad day at all!