Ninko Cabin Country

Traveled into Upper Whale Creek in the Northern Whitefish Range to spend 4 nights at the Ninko Cabin. We experienced some wintery weather out there, and managed to find enjoyable downhill skiing every day, despite some alarming avalanche concerns/observations.

Sunday 2/10:

• -30 air temperature in Polebridge at 8am
• Mostly clear skies
• Approximately 5 inches of faceting snow settled on top of the 2/2 crust at 4000’
• Made it to the cabin in time for a quick tour, climbed up to peak 6666 to ski SSE facing terrain
• Observed alarming settlements around 5250’ on our way up. We suspected that these settlements were occurring on the underside of the 2/2 crust. They were triggered while skinning on a road cut and sounded as though they propagated and traveled up to 50 feet away from us.
• Higher up, the buried 2/2 crust was less stout, however still present all the way up to 6666’. Potentially more concerning at upper elevations as the soft slab sitting on top was thickening (approximately 16 inches at 6666’).
• During our descent, we did not observe any instabilities between 6666’ and 5400’. Below 5400’ we were triggering manageable loose dry activity on the 2/2 crust.

Monday 2/11:

• Spent the entire day skiing the same terrain as Sunday. Four runs in various SSE facing gullies off of 6666 and the ridge extending eastward. (Affectionately known as Spice World: Sporty, Ginger, Scary, and Posh Gulches)
• We dug a pit before out first run at 5800’ on a 35-degree SSE facing slope. Snowpack Depth: 150cm
• The 2/2 crust was our layer of most concern.
• At this location we found the 2/2 crust 31cm below the surface.
• We conducted two ECT test. Both of which failed after 9 taps and propagated across the entire column. The first test failed and propagated on the underside of the 2/2 crust. And the second test failed and propagated on the top side of the 2/2 crust. Both sides of the crust were faceted and failed as planar interfaces (ECTP9 Q1)
• Lightly snowing all day with partly sunny skies at times.  1-3 inches of accumulation between Sunday evening and late Monday.
• High of -10 degrees during the day.

Tuesday 2/12:

• Stormy Spice
• Awoke to 6 inches of very low-density snow at 4500’
• Obvious signs of storm snow instabilities observed at the cabin. The roof of the woodshed effortlessly shed the storm snow with the slightest disturbance
• The extremely cold weather of early February has been faceting the upper snowpack, creating an extremely poor bonding surface for the new snow. This was expected and evident
• We worked our way back up the skin track to Spice World
• Notable instabilities observed during our ascent. Most prevalent were small (D1) natural avalanches running within the storm snow. We observed most of these naturals below 5400’ and they were mostly observed on steep terrain (35+) above and below road cuts.
• We were able to intentionally trigger these slides by disturbing small steep test slopes. (video example)
• With all of these red flags flying high, we knew that we needed to be diligent with our terrain selection if we wished to travel safely.
• We moved forward and we modified our skin track from prior days to avoid certain problematic slopes
• We were able to safely climb up to 6666 again.
• Moderate WSW winds were rapidly drifting snow and forming cornices on cross loaded terrain features throughout the afternoon.
• We skied the same gullies as previously with slightly modified entrance plans into the gullies. Avoiding cross loaded ESE facing slopes above the gullies.
• We skied ridiculously deep powder snow. 3+ feet above 5600’ by late Tuesday.

Wednesday 2/13:

• 20 degrees around 9am at 4500’. HEAT WAVE!
• 2-4 more inches of new snow Tuesday night.
• With the warmer weather consolidating the storm snow and leaving behind an upside-down slab, we expected the avalanche danger to be even more elevated than yesterday.
• We opted to travel into new terrain and ideally avoid being near or on slopes above 30-degrees.
• We traveled up Ninko Creek to climb Mount Thompson-Seton. We planned to ascend and ski the broad wooded slopes of its South Face.
• Weather was cooperative with our plan and we were able to safely climb and ski off the top
• No instabilities observed during our descent
• We enjoyed partly sunny skies and calm winds.
• We broke ridiculously deep trail to get up there.

Thursday 2/14:

• 10 degrees at 9am, partly sunny skies, and calm winds.
• We skied a ridiculously long road, and finished the trip with ridiculously nice views of the Livingston Range.