Quick report
We toured up to about 11000' on Table Mtn and then descended Jawbone Canyon this morning. The morning started chilly but with bluebird skies warmed by mid-morning. Very light and intermittent winds. The current established skin track climbs the treed slopes just west of the main canyon, so that's where we ended up climbing. Snow depth along the skin track varied from 1m+ to 40cm on top of completely hidden rocks. Surface conditions were largely soft with patchy wind affect near treeline. We didn't dig a pit but the new storm snow felt right-side up and consolidated. No cracking, no collapses, no loose dry sloughs even though the skinner traversed some steep terrain. We descended the E-facing side of the bowl at the top of the canyon and then the main canyon to its mouth. Surprisingly, the bowl and upper reaches of the canyon down to around 9500' were free of wind affect and held deep and soft powder. Below 9500' there was some wind affect mixed with rippled loose snow. It seemed like winds had channeled through the canyon and gained speed where it narrows. Below 9200', the thin snowpack made travel a bit more difficult with plenty of early season-type obstacles and more wind affect. Other slopes in the Aspendell area looked pretty low tide, though some folks had skied Bishop Bowl.