Snow conditions in the Convict drainage

We took advantage of the low winds and blue skies this morning to get into the high country. The goal for the day was to summit Mt Morison and descend via the East face. The temperature was brisk and winds were light as we left Convict Lake around 730 this morning.   Snow on the moraines was largely supportable wind board or melt freeze crust with a trace of new snow now. We were able to skin to the Morison Col though slick wind board made skinning touch and go at times.  Boot packing from the Col we picked our route carefully and found travel to be relatively easy.   The sun was warming surface snow on east and southeast aspects though the effects were minimal.  No roller balls or point releases were observed.  Surface conditions were largely enjoyable today but we did find the lower on the face we got the more heavy and “funky” the snow felt.  Fresh wind slabs were limited to isolated locations though we did find older wind slabs on the summit ridge as well as on specific terrain features lower down on the face.  

We opted to follow our boot pack back to the col and descend to the lake via the north side.  Skiing on the upper half was quite pleasant comprised of ankle-deep bouncy pow. The lower pitch was more variable and less enjoyable made up primarily of supportable wind board with pockets of soft snow. We returned to the car at around 130 pm after crossing the lake.  We observed many rollerballs from and evidence of loose dry activity the last few days but nothing from today’s tour.  Apart from some localized cracking and mod/ hard hand shears no signs of instability were observed today. Overall it was an amazing day of adventure skiing.