Terrain Talk #13. Painting a Mental Picture of the Mountains.

Every day I go out into the mountains, I have a vivid picture in my mind of what I expect to find. Of course, I'll be thinking about whether it will be sunny or cloudy, snowy or windy, but I also think about, and try to imagine what the snow will look and feel like. Will it have wind effect on the surface, and will it change at different elevations and aspects? Will the trees be caked in snow, or will the wind have blown that snow away, or has the sun or temperatures caused the trees to shed their snow?

Painting this mental image in my head helps me find the best snow and conditions on any given day, but even more important is that if what I find out in the mountains is different than what I expect, I need to stop and check if my plan still makes sense given the current (actual) conditions. Did it snow more than I expected? Was there more wind, or is the sun popping and changing the snow? Does our plan still make sense?

Here are some of the things I do ahead of a day out to help paint that picture and set up my expectations, which inform my plan.