Hell Hole

We started our ride late, at 11am, to avoid steep slopes while they were still firm. Sunny, wind sheltered slopes were already quite soft, with boot penetration above my ankles. We spent most of the ride in "near treeline " terrain up to 9600ft, where east winds prevented excessive wetting on sunny slopes. But even north aspects were warming and moist on the surface. Most of the cornices above Hell Hole had been eroded by previous winds, but several large ones remained and appeared ready to fail. Our exit route in late afternoon took us through sunny, low elevation non-avalanche terrain, and in many places we experienced sudden ski or track dives as deep as 2ft into wet, weak snow. 

Deep wet snow on sunny, wind sheltered slopes