Jawbone Canyon 02.11.2010

This is a pretty non-technical account of our ski this morning. Headed up early this morning to Aspendell to check out conditions in Jawbone Canyon. Coverage on the fan leading to the canyon still has some brush poking through but was easy to avoid. The entrance to the canyon looked brushy so we chose the steep but short gully immediately west of the normal entrance. Continuing up we dug several small pits on the way, finding about 20cm snow from this weekend's storm. Total snow depth averaged 100-120cm. We were primarily on due north facing (some NE) , treed slopes, estimated to be 35 degrees. A pit was dug at the top of our first lap, approx. 10,400 ft in ~120cm of snow. Shovel shear test required moderate-hard pressure to cause failure of a weak layer at approx. 90cm. Facets were noted at ground level but were no reactive. Attempts to ski cut the slope were also non-reactive. We saw no natural avalanche activity during the day. Very good skiing with better than expected coverage.