Quick report
Went back to 20 mile drainage today and found more variable conditions than Wednesday. I was an hour earlier than on Wednesday and the snow on the still shady west aspect early in the morning was frozen despite the balmy 45 degrees. However the freeze was superficial on the surface and following the bootpack from Wednesday had me punching deep into the saturated snow. The snow on the east aspect was more transitioned to corn and less “hot pow” at 8500’ (than Wednesday), still somewhat crunchy at 10:00am but quickly turned to mashed taters at 7500’-6500’. The west aspect was similar, still somewhat crunchy above 7500’ (at 12:15pm) where I was skiing the more solar portions of the west, but then below 7500’ it went to mashed taters even in the shadier parts. Getting greedy, I went for more on a shadier west aspect that had a bit of north in it. The top 2 turns were crunchy but then in a small choke near rocks I punched into the snow. Again crunchy for a few turns then punching though near rocks. The inconsistency had me hesitant to ski further into the tube and I bailed to the ridge and safely picked my way down the slope dodging “trap doors” around logs, rocks, and shrubs. Oddly enough, I didn’t see any new natural avalanche activity since Wednesday in this area despite 3 days of record warmth. Do your “cold dances” and let’s hope the forecasted cooler temperatures can help the saturated snowpack🤞