The number of registrants dropped from 14 to 10 when I sent an email that metal edges would be needed to traverse some of the sidehills on the way to Berley Lakes.  However, the remaining group was pleasantly surprised to find an inch of fresh snow at the Santiam Trailhead.  But the traverse was blown free of snow and difficult to gain an edge, as expected.  The prediction of partly cloudy was accurate, with a few snow flurries to add to the fresh.  Half of the route was through old burns with a splash of sun and a couple of small ponds, but the other half was often tricky navigating through the trees, often skiing on the small "bridge" of snow between two tree-wells.

The closer we got to Berley Lakes, the more fresh snow we found on top of the consolidated base, with about 3" at the lake.  Of course, this enticed us with off course turns and led to unplanned route finding through new growth to get back to the route.  However, the drop to the lake was much too steep for carving turns with deep tree wells that forced us to side step and kick turn our way down.  This was clearly an advanced skier adventure that appealed to those crazy people that joined the group!