We headed up to Skookaleel keen to find some soft snow before the storm arrives tomorrow.
The west side of Canyon Creek is still pretty thick, but hallways are starting to show themselves between the walls of alder (walders). We saw slight sloughing, yet unreactive results in our hand shears. The bottom of the canyon was certainly above freezing, and we witnessed roller balling on sheltered, NE aspects above Fiberglass Hill. Very little wind down in the canyon.
Up on Skook, pit tests were a mixed bag, with the majority of our 100cm deep pit rebar'd by shrubberies. The cornices have grown tremendously in the week since I was last there, were fairly stiff, and propogated heavily when we managed to budge them, in one case causing a notable collapse in the whole snowpack and remotely triggering another section of cornice to fall. On the face, wind slabs were the name of the game up top, with better, more filled in conditions down low.
Weather was generally settled, with moderate winds on the ridgetop and a small snow flurry around 1400 that only left a trace. The heavy melting witnessed at lower, more solar elevations wasn't present at elevations above fiberglass hill, probably due to wind and cloud cover.
