Happy Saint Paddy’s Day all,

Took a trip to EV yesterday in the building lenticular clouds and freshening SW breeze. It’s been downright hot the last few days as temps have been reaching into the fifties and sixties with S through E aspects fully corning up and lower elevations melting out completely. Had to check my calendar to see if it’s March or April 15th, the snow and temps are saying one thing and the calendar another. The skin track played out into S facing warm soft wind slab on the approach, reminding me of silky soft days on Alaska windblown pow. The winds had sculpted the clouds into various surreal shapes over the Gore and I enjoyed a lonely skin to the top of Benchie.

West Marvins ‘ showed signs of wet slab activity due to heating while the north facingr aspects were still shaded enough for wind smoothed pow. Went down to Old Mans and was pleasantly surprised to see the right middle to the right side of Old Mans was untracked probably due to the fact the cornice has built significantly over the last week or so and the entrance is overhung and burly. Took some time to stop some cornice and send a piece to the flats knocking loose some windslab on the upper scarp, built up from the prevailing winds on the harder surface from the days of warm weather and settlement.

It seemed a good opportunity to break out the G3 bone saw and cut out a section of the cornice a bit deeper to make a usable ramp for the drop in. Kinda nice being up there on a blustery day sawing some cornice without a soul in sight, a true labor of love.

I dropped and sent it towards the middle , as I made the first right turn that shaded a hair toward the NE into the gut, the snow instantly changed to glazed slush, an indicator of just how a slight aspect change in emerging spring sun can alter snow conditions drastically. Headed into the middle and stayed due north all the way down the bowl.

The MVP tres were another story. Thoroughly warmed, the snow skied like two feet of mashed potatoes, making skiing out a clinic in mank survival skiing. Had to ski carefully and slowly as the 207′s like to hang up in the deepest of crud. Overall a good run but with lower elevations warming on all aspects, the lowers are at times arduous.

The CAIC is calling wet slides, and the Gore and EV are no exceptions with natural activity on the south and east aspects visible. A new SW system is now north of us and we’re waiting to see if it dips to us this evening. Cooler temps will at least stop the melt for now and hopefully we’ll pick some snow tonight out of another temperamental SW storm. Cross your fingers.