Winter Up High

It was a stormy winter's day as we wandered around the Noisy and Jewel Basins - at least once we got above about 4,500 feet.

• We got rained on up to 4,500 feet in the morning and the snow line seemed to never have dipped below that. We rode our sleds on the road on thin slushy ice until that elevation on the way in, and on the way out.
• Above 5,000 feet precip definitely changed to all snow. 
• New snow was being blown by moderate to strong southwest winds above about 7,000 feet. There was limited snow avaliable for building wind slabs, however. A rain crust capped all but the top 2 to 4 inches of the snowpack. We only got minor cracking on leeward slopes.
• We saw one small, older natural wind slab avalanche on a steep northeast facing slope. We guessed had failed during the last storm on the 4th.
• We looking at the snowpack on northeasterly slopes at 6,000 and 7,000 feet. We found a few distinctive weak layers below stout crusts and hard slabs. 
• Snowfall diminished by mid afternoon. It had snowed 2 inches on our sleds when we returned to Camp Misery.

Skiing was sporty on both east and west aspects. Early season bush is still poking throught the surface and that rain crust  just below the soft new snow can catch you up.