Our Saturday tour at Ray Benson encountered a thin snowpack, but great skiing–just like Bob’s Christmas eve ski.  Snow wasn’t much more than a foot deep, but there were 3-4″ of “almost” powder over a firm base.  It was sunny in the morning with high clouds in the afternoon–beautiful conditions for skiing.  Anna, Reid and I headed out the South Loop for a quarter mile and then left the trail to ramble through the open terrain created by the Big Hoodoo thinning project.  With  light snow and no trailbreaking it was an easy ski down to the Santiam Wagon Rd. and east to Brandenburg Shelter for lunch.  In the afternoon we skied north on the Two Buttes Cutoff past Claypool Buttes and then wandered off trail back to Ray Benson.  If we get even a few inches of fresh snow, there will be good skiing at the pass next weekend.  Get out and enjoy! 

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