Tranquillo

Day off tour on north-facing terrain of John Stevens Canyon.

• We drove through brief period of heavy snowfall in the Middle Fork late morning.
• The crust left after last week's warming is about an inch thick. We found it on south to east aspects and all the way to our high point of 7000 feet. We didn't travel on any west facing terrain. Above the crust we found 4 to 6 inches of unconsolidated graupel.
• On northerly aspects we found 6 to 12 inches of low density graupel on top of a well bonded and settling upper snowpack.
• We did many had shears and quick pits looking for buried weak layers, but didn't find any. We also jumped on many test slopes without so much as a crack.
• Winds were calm to light with only the occasional whisp of blowing snow. There are still some awfully big cornices on alpine ridgelines.
• We felt comfortable skiing very steep northeast facing slopes. Sluff management was a must on pitches steeper than 40 degrees. Only the top few inches of snow sluffed, but the graupel moved fast.