January 27

They were on closeout

waffle

because of the package design...doping?

porter

Bowman trail to the Cabin run,

pole

out Pole canyon.

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

6200-10k, angles over 35°, north facing aspects.

Snow conditions

There was less than an inch of new snow at the trailhead, resting on a refreezing wet base, capped by a supportable crust.

New snow amounts increased with elevation gain with the soggy old snow changing to dense and creamy above about 8k.

Upper elevations were heavily wind affected, scoured on the west facing.

Out of the wind, 8-12" of dense snow over a crust-facet lower snow pack.

baker

By afternoon, lower elevations had 1-3"" new snow, bonding poorly to the old surface.

Weather

Overcast to obscure skies, moderate temperatures, wind from the wsw gusting to about 50 mph at upper elevations above 9k.

cabin-runout

Evaluation

Instability was from wind drifting. New snow was sluffing easily at lower elevations in the gully.

Future instability would be dependent on snow amounts.

Potential exists for release into old layering with a significant load.

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