I think I might have been the first person to visit upper Broads Fork this season, the coverage in the upper drainage is impressive for this time of year. My plan was to go up for a look and make decisions from there. I already knew I could hike up the SE facing on Bonkers which is low elevation and did not have any old snow underlying the new. As soon as I got to the bottom of Bonkers I knew I wasn’t going to head to the Diving Board, way too much wind loading going on above and no SE facing to walk up. On the other hand pole probing as I broke trail up Bonkers revealed 2 ft or less with no old snow underlying the pack on the SE facing. The whole slope appeared to avalanche big during the Thanksgiving storm leaving no bushes or rocks on the low angle apron all the way to the creek. As soon as I reached an elevation of 9000ft at the choke the slope above veers in a more northerly direction and that’s where I stopped. I proceeded to cut out to the middle of the slope which is E facing and probing revealed a layer of facets at the bottom but nothing to alarming. Going any higher on the slope would've put me in terrain I didn’t trust and which most certainly contained old snow, and more hazard, being that it’s NE facing, shady and at a higher elevation. On my third trip up I heard and watched a glide slide pull out on the Diving Board, which told me it was time to go home. Sorry for the long winded explanation but when you go into terrain like Broads Fork actions must be well thought out, including route finding, elevation and decisions on which slopes to be on.

photos: surface hoar, and the route I chose on the lower elevation SE facing

Still sticking with considerable on high N,NE, E