Junuary at Cain

Junuary at Cain this weekend, with extremely spring like conditions. Fun corn turns were to be had from mid day onwards on any solar slopes. We generally rode east facing terrain which provided quite enjoyable ski quality. Overnight freeze was somehow present with the warm temps we had, likely due to convective cooling with the very clear nights. By mid day east facing terrain was nice and soft, anything still in the shade was bulletproof. Steeper slopes skied better, where the rain did not have a chance to pool and create a “golf ball” effect with little pockets and ridges. At 1:45pm the temp in the sun at Cain base was a whopping 21 degrees. Beers in T-shirts was quite enjoyable. Saw remnants of a couple few day old size 1-1.5 wet loose avalanches which started in steep terrain and ran quite far. Interesting rain runnels on Dream peak, see photo. During our touring we unsurprisingly ran into no signs of instability. While the sun and warmth was great to bask in, the snowpack is suffering. Here’s to hoping for some cooler temps and a lot more precip for the rest of the winter.