Gothic Mtn

We found great corn skiing and no signs of instability on steep south- and southwest-facing aspects.  A pit on a cross-drifted SSE feature NTL raised concerns/uncertainties about potential wet slab issues because water was pooling and weakening the snow above the 2/11 crust, and we avoided similar features after the snow surface became unsupportive.     

We found good corn skiing with only an inch or two of ski pen at 1:30 on southwest aspects N/ATL.  Another group timed their descent on the south side of Gothic at noon, and it looked good as well.   A pit on a steep SSE cross-drifted feature at 11,600': ECTP14 down about 45 cm on lower-density wet grains. The slab was mostly dry (the top held 15 cm of softening melt-freeze crust), but free water was pooling above the 2/11 crust and weakening the bond there.  The snow surface was frozen hard and supportive all morning, and started becoming punchier to boot penetration on southeast aspects by about 12:30 or so.