Tablelands, Devil’s Punchbowl

Had another look at the North side of the Tablelands and found favorable conditions, other than the zero visibility. The snow is a nice chalky consistency that provides excellent boot-packing, as well as a good edge during descent. No melt-freeze crust which was nice to see. No signs of instability, such as “woomphing”. Snowpack felt solid (no hollow feeling or vibrations) and “right-side up” (progressively denser with depth). Hand-shear tests didn’t show any suspect layers in upper 2ft of snowpack. The entrance to our line was a blind leeward rollover so we built an anchor and used a belay to ensure we had the correct entrance, as well as to provide safety while ski-cutting it. No issues after a couple of ski-cuts. Pretty encouraging snowpack, at least in the area that we were. Unfortunately didn’t really get to utilize it due to lack of visibility.