Last blast at Sugarbowl?

Carte pour le rapport du Réseau d'information en montagne: Last blast at Sugarbowl?

Conditions de neige

La qualité du hors-piste était:
Incroyable
Les conditions de neige étaient :
  • Lourde
  • Poudreuse
Nous avons parcouru:
  • Forêt dégagée
Nous sommes restés à l'écart de:
  • Pentes alpines

Information

La journée était:
  • Ensoleillée
  • Chaude
Conditions d'avalanche
  • 30 cm + de neige fraîche ou transport important de neige par le vent ou pluie au cours des dernières 48 heures

Commentaires

Went up Sugarbowl with the hopes of skiing the prominent north/northwest-facing chute (Norheim couloir?) as you first gain the ridge. Was hoping the new snow would have settled by now and that we could enjoy some pow before things warmed up. Was able to skin right from the car (and my wife skied all the way back down to the car although I’m sure with the warming she will be the last one to do that this season). Snow was a bit warm/moist until about 1400 meters but above that it was beautiful. It stayed cloudy and several degrees below freezing until we got to the top. We didn’t see any avalanches. Things weren’t shedding yet. You could feel some cohesiveness in the new snow and I was able to get some results just with hand shears. There were certainly signs of wind effect at the top of the chute. I dug a quick pit near the ridge top which was more north/northeast-facing. Could see the most recent crust down 50-60cm. I got a sudden planar result at 15 taps down 30-40cm. Given that was not quite the aspect we were hoping to ski, I dug a second pit that was north/northwest-facing. Another sudden planar result down 30-40cm this time at 8 taps. Ultimately, we bailed on the skiing the chute. Sun popped out as soon as we transitioned and we enjoyed sunny pow through the trees instead. Trees and cliffs started shedding almost instantly. It was 6 or 7 degrees by the time we got to the car.