Had a meeting out at the office til about 1130, but, with daylight burning we headed up into the back bowls of Mill B South. 3-4\" of new snow covered the tired old snow surfaces, sluffing with the first hint of sun, as seen above.

We ascended to the Cottonwood Ridgeline, ski cut the upper \'chute\' into this upper bowl, then went for the long traverse toward a bench to the west, allowing a clean line into the Lake Blanche elevation band. Plenty of sluffing slowed my momentum, when I heard the unmistakeable \'WHUMPH\' of collapsing faceted snow. I had found a thinner weak spot of snow near 11,000\', there on the northerly slope. Perhaps less than 1% of the terrain mimics this setup. The soft slab, 18\" deep and 40\' wide broke 20\' above me, consisting of new snow and the day\'s sluffing \'debris\'. The snow started moving around me, but I was able to ski off at a 45 degree angle to escape being carried.

A little better perspective, looking at my long traverse skier\'s left, then the hasty exit stage right.

Topo perspective here. Upper Mill B would be rated as Complex terrain - you\'ll see our new terrain ratings map by late spring. Stay tuned.