The wind was raging today and the snow was coming down creating near blizzard conditions in most exposed areas. The visibility was a little over 1/2 mile but it was snowing horizontally with the high winds coming down the canyons.
I stopped at a view point on the trail to Haiyaha and took this picture looking over the east end of Dream Lake toward Bear Lake and Flattop:
Pretty much full on winter conditions.
I traveled on the summer trail to Haiyaha and had some slabs of snow slide very easily where wind slab snow had blown in on top of loose snow. This is bad news for anyone that travels in avalanche prone areas. That loose/slippery layer will probably be present all winter and will be sure to cause many avalanches in the Rockies this winter.
I took my winter route to the lake from the bridge area before Haiyaha and found just enough snow to make it through the huge rocks just before the lake. I looked back at what I'd come through, before going over the rise and onto the lake:
You can tell there is a lot drifting snow coming off the lake and I knew I was in for a treat getting onto the lake.
I came over the rise and the wind hit me head on with wind speeds high enough to blow me off balance if not careful. The rise is also where the snow is blowing it's thickest and I went into the wind/snow needing to hold my head down as I was getting blasted by snow and my face was getting soaked. I traveled through the blasting snow and onto the lake which got me out of the wind chute the end of the lake creates. I looked back and couldn't see through the blowing snow I had come through:
I crossed the lake with my head down and my arm blocking my face from the blasting snow and soon found myself in the relative calm of the woods. It's beautiful back there with the snow starting to cover the rocks. It looks to be in what I've come to call "The Cake" conditions:
The woods are calm and gather a lot of snow and even though the pine trees didn't have any snow built up on them it still seemed like a winter wonderland:
