Jumbo Cabin Trip

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Stormy
• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Had an awesome 3 days of skiing near Jumbo Cabin (Nov 17-19). When we arrived on the 17th there was around 30cm of new snow and it was snowing moderately all day. We dug a test profile near the cabin (2300m) on an east aspect. The snowpack is right side up, transitioning from F to 1F at the ground. The Oct crust was present near the base of the snowpack, 1F hardness, and snow above and below was bonding to it. HS was ~130cm. We skied mostly mellow open slopes east of the cabin on day one, but observed some cracking and minor propagation, with failures 30cm deep.

It snowed another 20cm overnight and continued to snow heavily on the morning of the 18th. Another 20cm that morning brought storm totals to ~70cm. We triggered some small, 20cm deep storm slabs when skiing steep test slopes around 38 degrees. There were numerous naturals sz 1-2.5, all aspects, ALP/TL in the surrounding area. Most looked around 20cm deep, with some deeper releases in wind loaded areas. It cleared up for the rest of the trip on the afternoon of the 18th and we lapped mellow alpine slopes for the rest of the trip. Wind affect in the alpine was minimal.

Skiing out on the 19th was better than expected with around 60cm HS at the trailhead. Still need to be cautious obviously, and be prepared to do battle with alders. However, there’s great early season skiing out there at upper elevations!