Banana Chute

We skied Banana Chute on Fissile Peak Monday. There was a 10-20 cm layer of fresh snow on top of a supportive crust. The windward side of the mountain was extremely wind-scoured down to the scree. The leeward slopes (NE) were filled in and in excellent condition for skiing (see picture for difference in snow cover between aspects). When the first skier dropped in, we observed dry loose non-cohesive sluffing of the 10-20 cm of fresh snow on top of the crust layer, which ran to the bottom of the couloir. We saw evidence of a large size 3 natural avalanche that ran to valley bottom, likely on a weak buried persistent layer and occurred in the last big avalanche cycle this month.