Decided it was time to try some S facing today hoping for corn or at least sun soften snow. Headed up Tanners slide path around 10:30am in hopes it was warm enough not to be bullet proof and skinable but not too soft to be unsupportable and manky. Leaving a hour earlier would have put us in the right place at the right time. The snow in Tanners is quite consolidated due to the many large avalanches that have run its length this winter. The debris pile from the main slides have somewhat smoothed out in some places but there where many smaller slides that have come off the E and W facing walls that covered the narrow part of the gulch in large debris piles. The snow seemed to soften around 10:30 or so and seemed to stay supportable and non-sticky until noon. The surface was close to being corn but still transitioning a bit. We decided it was time to pull the plug when chunks of ice began to cascade off the E facing walls. A cloudy night and warm nighttime temperatures might keep the snow surface from getting a solid freeze over night and the window my be much shorter tomorrow.

photos: some of the impresses results from previous slides, and a look down the choke