Quick report
Went up to Tucks/Hillman's with no expectations. We arrived at Hojos at ~9:30AM with dead calm wind and temps in the 20s. We started up Hillman's on hefty debris from what appears to be a large natural cycle mid storm. We found a small test slope and gave it a stomp and found a very stubborn 4-8" thick wind slab that we deemed a minor concern. As we walked, we discussed the red flags we were observing (recent-ish avalanches, and wind loading within the past 48 hours) and the possible human factors in play (familiarity, commitment - we drove 3 hours this AM). We poked up just above the large rock at about 4400'. About 100' above the rock the snow quickly turned from hard old snow to a 4-finger 1-2' thick wind slab. We stopped and dug a pit and found the 4-F slab sitting on top of a 2-4" layer of fist hardness snow (poor snow pack structure). In A CT the wind slab failed on isolation. Additionally within the wind slab, we found two 4-8" thick wind slabs that were less reactive but had cleaner shear quality (similar to the test slope). Not liking the setup, we skied down from about 4500' on old debris and bed surface. We then ventured into the bowl. Winds slowly began to pick up through the morning, but no snow transport was observed. We started up left gully which had an impressive crown line from the natural cycle. We talked with another party as we entered the gully ensuring we wouldn't be skiing on top of each other. In left gully we found a stiff 1-finger/pencil hard surface. Some of this surface was old debris and other parts of the surface were newer wind slabs. We stopped just short of the choke, again, not wanting to get on top of the wind slabs. We found similar conditions on the bottom of chute and headwall area, with extensive debris in the lower third of the slope and 1-F wind slabs as we approached mid slope.