We struggled up through the new snow and the bushes to the PC ridgeline for some exercise. High in the alpine at the ridge intersecting Willow's, Wills, and West monitor I went out onto the little flat just before West Monitor plunges over and got a whoomph that shot cracks like lightning bolts towards the edge, and I saw the top edge of the slope fall away. Conflicting instincts: recoil to ensure safety, or rush forward to see the white dragon roar? The reality was that I wasn't really able to do either. But roar it did; the bowl slid wall to wall and went full track.

Not very surprising: the October storms left enough snow at that elevation to turn into a facetfest, and any load on top of it was going to be suspect, of course West Monitor is a frequent flier, and this storm delivered a good load. Oh, and there was some decent windloading from the SW, as per one of the photos looking over the ridge. But even given that, we were surprised at the ease of the trigger; just one skier stepping onto the ridge 30 feet away and the whole thing ripped. Let the annual Monitor reload/slide cycle begin.

We continued on over to South Monitor to see if we could replicate the action - and I froze my fingers shooting video waiting in vain for it to go - but upon closer inspection we realized it had already naturaled with small cornice drops in what I would call a more pockety manner.

photo jrdIII