Imogene

This was an attempt at a sled-accessed ski day on Imogene Peak. This was unfortunately cut short by the toe piece of a binding pulling out of my ski near the base of the E face. 

I moved through miles of terrain and did not observe any cracking or collapsing.

Riding up from the Pettit Lake pullout, surfaces were firm and supportable in most locations to snow machines, but not slick. Approaching Yellow Belly Lake, there were pockets of softer snow in treeline without the same supportable crust at their surface. Skinning up from the Yellow Belly Lake TH, the same surface conditions made for fast and efficient travel before reaching the first of a series of SE-facing steps and alpine benches on the approach to Imogene. Coverage below 8000' made for a mix of sporty skinning around deadfall and boulders to bootpacking up dirt. Climbing higher onto more E than S-facing terrain, coverage increased with surfaces varying from 15-20cm of soft snow  on colder aspects (PP's & DF's) on top of the stout MFcr from our prior heatwave.  There was 2-4cm of new snow from flurries during the day on top of a thinner, unsupportable MFcr from sunshine in recent days on more solar aspects.

While there was enough SAFT to build new wind slabs, the amount/strength of sustained wind needed to do so was not reached in areas I traveled. I also did not observe blowing snow on the many visible ridgelines from my vantage around the Southern Sawtooths. Older wind slabs were present in more alpine terrain overlying our stout MFcr from the recent heatwave, however they were unreactive. 

Pulling out the toe piece of my binding from my ski very unexpectedly (from the newest pair of skis I own) alone at the base of alpine peak miles away from my sled (let alone the highway), I was quite happy to have a stout repair kit on me. While the exit down to the flats and back to the sled was quite slow, laborious, and laughable at times, it would've been a lot worse without the supplies I had to make my ski semi-functional for the downhill. A good reminder that if you're going on longer tours into more complex terrain with the increased stability and daylight hours of spring, to come prepared.