Hankins Hurtin

With sun in the forecast we made our way to Hankin with alpine dreams. Our dreams were dashed as we got views into North bowl and observed re frozen roller balls effecting every aspect. The top 1/4 of the alpine looked enjoyable but the bottom 3/4 would have had it out for our knees. We dug a pit on an East aspect at 1250m with no significant results in testing. The Jan 26th crust facet combo is down 100cm in this location and the facets above the crust seem to be rounding and compressing. After a snack and quick sun pit session we traversed at tree line between North Bowl and Cabin Bowl to gain more observations. Cabin bowl looked to be in similar shape to North bowl with more wind effect at ridge top and a size 2 wind slab that likely released over the weekend. With a clouds coming and going and a bit of wind the sun never had a chance to soften up our exit and we skied our way down on very audible snow. Today felt like the flip of a switch to spring after a very wintery feeling the rest of the week. Time to switch into a spring mindset and give the cornices and solar input the respect they deserve!