Thunder Meadows March 23-26

March 23 Avy report: 221 Temp: -5 to -3 overcast Skinned up the safest approach through cabin bowl. A previous well set skin track was mostly visible and usable for much of it, just covered by a few cm of fresh snow. Decent visibility until the last 100m elevation gain. March 24 Avy report: 332 Temp: 0? Overcast and snowing in morning then sunny and hot later afternoon Skinned up towards big steep planning to ski the west facing glades. There was an avalanche noted on the north aspect of big steep. At the ridge it was windy and west facing slopes were icy so we turned around and did a lap I. The South facing slope right outside the hut. Great skiing here and half of our group stayed on this side doing short mellow laps. No whumpfing/cracking. Snow felt well consolidated but more wet and heavy than yesterday. Hand sheer tests on South aspect released 30-40cm storm slab SP with moderate pulling. Came back to the hut when the sun came out and it felt too hot. Got the updated avy report for next days and there was a drastic increase from the expected 332 to 444. Plan was to leave early the next day but with this info we went out to dig a pit on a NW aspect close to the hut similar to what we would be skiing down. See separate snowpack MIN. Column test immediately failed SP 135mm. Absolutely will not ski be skiing down even the safest route through cabin bowl. March 25 Avy report: 444 Temp: ? Realized the outside thermometer was broken and stuck at 0. Snow melting off trees and snowpack has sunk at least a foot. With the anticipated warming we should have taken the conservative approach and done a day trip up to the hut and back down on the 23rd when it was 221 and great snow. Sharing so others can also learn from our trip planning mistakes. Stay safe out there everyone!