Today was a tricky day in the Wellsvilles as the stout winds, hot sun, soft overnight refreeze, and scattered clouds made for a hard to predict thaw cycle that never really seemed to be in line with our plan, which was to ski the cone. Due to the uncertainty and still very firm conditions upon gaining the ridge, we decided to ski some lower elevation (below 8000') east facing runs that were already sloppy and variable by the time we made it back down. We then slipped into pine canyon with eyes on chute in the north fork drainage above 9000' and upon gaining the ridge witnessed the start and full run of the avalanche on the cone (picture). We skied an east facing run in the chute at about the same elevation as the cone and had minimal signs of wet activity with only small roller balls. I am thinking the cone may have not had a hard refreeze overnight due to winds and mild temps along with the SE exposure and consistent pitch of that slope acting like a catchers mitt for the sun resulted in the only natural activity we saw all day. We did note many old (last 1-2 days) wet loose avalanches originating from trees, cliffs, and cornice fall (picture). Identifying the uncertainty in surface conditions we had in the decision to ski the cone led us to switch to plan B, which the mountains seemed to show us was a good decision.
Picture 1: general lower elevation conditions
Picture 2: lots of wet loose debris in Pine Canyon
Picture 3: Cone wet slide
Picture 4: Lenticular cloud
Picture 5: A lot of effort and decision making on a tricky day went into these turns
