While the PWL is on its way to healing, it is not there yet. The main takeaway from our day is evident in how we traveled: we elected to ski a moderate, low-angle north-facing slope that we knew had already avalanched. We made a point to avoid the classic trigger points of PWLs: thin, rockier areas that are potentially wind-loaded, and convexities. We poked over toward Lone Pine from Middle Cirque to observe the handful of consequential paths along the way. We reach the final path before Lone Pine—which had the exact characteristics states above—and elected to not enter the slope. We turned around, and scooched safely back to more moderate slopes for our exit.
While it feels like springtime up in the La Sals, and on many years this might be the time to ski Mt. Tuk and other high peaks in the La Sals. However, our assessment was that we are not there yet, and may not ever reach that point this season while coverage lasts. Plenty of good skiing can be found in other places (see photos).
Photos:
#1: Eric skinning into Middle Cirque with small point release wet loose slides from recent days on solar aspects behind him.
#2: We elected to ski moderate avalanche terrain on N-facing slopes that we knew had already avalanched earlier in the season (debris on right side of photo). We made a point to avoid thinner, rockier trigger points in the terrain above us.
#3: The slope we decided not to ski to get over to Lone Pine from Middle Cirque, with the exact characteristics we're looking to avoid with the PWL right now: thinner, rockier starting zones with past wind loading.
#4-6: As Eric would call it, "Winter's last gasp" was a "Colorado powder day." We're not complaining.
