Hatch Peak / Valley of Sin

Driving up to the pass, the plan was to jump on sleds and head to the west side, but a smooth, snowy Valley of Sin called us in. We ascended $1000 run to Hatch Peak and skied a lap in the Lake Hill Chutes before climbing back to Hatch and descending into the Valley of Sin via the Face of Hatch. While the solar aspect was warm and soft, the faceted nature of the snow made it a little more granular and punchy than soft and consistent. It was noted that another day or two of good diurnal warming and freezing might improve the rideability. 

In the Valley of Sin, we hunted out some more soft turns on the north-facing aspect of Halibut Tail. On our ascent, we triggered one small collapse on a steeper slope, but this didn't result in any cracking or sliding. On our last run exiting the Valley of Sin, we skied a short, shady slope that was entirely faceted, and were able to trigger a small facet sluff that gouged into old snow and took an old small, shallow slab with it on it way down the slope. 

The highlight of the day was skiing through the small tunnel that was formed by last season's avalanche debris under the Sunnyside of Hatch. 

We didn't dig any formal pits today but traveled on all aspects at mid and upper elevations. We found an evenly distributed 2-3 inches of new snow with light wind effect on most aspects. Ridgelines and some windward features were scoured with exposed rocks and hard, icy surfaces. Our biggest concern was warming and triggering a larger, thicker wet slide on solar aspects later in the day, but a descent overnight freeze and relatively cool temps helped keep dramatic warming at bay. We encountered one isolated collapse and a number of recent slides that indicated there are some old buried slabs out there that could still give you trouble. These seem to be more easily found on northerly aspects where the snow remains cold and dry.