Observation: Douglas Island

Based on observations in the Mt. Troy area, from descriptions of skiers coming down Eaglecrest, and what I could observe of Mt. Stewart from across the valley, the “skiable” snow in open terrain starts at 1900ft. That’s just above the top of Hooter and base of Black Bear Chairs, and is at the elevation of the “rescue meadows” on the approach to Mt. Troy. It looked like you could ski in Wedding bowl if you went toward Mt. Stewart.

Once on snow, the surface is a soft facet layer covered with surface hoar, overlying a thin buried crust. This soft layer ranges from 0cm thick at 1900 to ankle deep as you gain elevation. It was easy to travel on while climbing, and pleasant skiing on the way down. Temperatures were mild and cool, and the wind had not yet started to crank up. If it does start to howl, it will be difficult to find a sweet spot between the low coverage down low, and wind effected snow up high. We did not observe any signs of instability or recent avalanches.