McGee Creek

We went up Esha Canyon to look for cold snow and monitor for wet loose avalanches.

We were able to get on snow within 10 minutes of the pack station, and stay on snow to 12000 ft. Morning surfaces in the lower canyon were firm and frozen, and we were happy to have ski crampons. Higher in the canyon, we found softening snow that mostly made for easy skinning, but was occasionally clumpy when we moved back and forth from east to north tilts. 

This zone has seen lots of skier traffic, and evidence of skier-triggered instabilities over the last few days was minimal.

Skiing in the alpine chutes was high quality if we stuck to the true north side and kept away from the east walls. 

Snow in the lower bowls is transitioning more and more each day, but still not quite fully melt-freeze corn skiing.

• From 8000 to 9000 feet, we found firm melt-freeze snow.
• From 9000 to 10500 feet, east aspects had a stout sun crust, and north aspects had a thin crust with cold snow underneath.
• Above 10500 feet, east aspects held 6 inches of warming transitional snow on top of firm, old surfaces. North aspects were a mix of cold protected powder, breakable wind-affect, and firm, exposed old surfaces.
• We were able to initiate small, wet-loose avalanches on upper elevation northeast slopes. We could have poked further out east and pushed off larger wet-loose slides, but we didn't want to make a mess.