Touchy Montana

La qualité du hors-piste était:

Excellente

Les conditions de neige étaient :

• Poudreuse
• Affectée par le vent

Nous avons parcouru:

• Forêt dense
• Forêt dégagée

Nous sommes restés à l'écart de:

• Pentes alpines
• Pentes convexes
• Pentes raides

La journée était:

• De tempête
• Venteuse

Conditions d'avalanche

• Avalanches de plaque datant d'aujourd'hui ou d'hier.
• 30 cm + de neige fraîche ou transport important de neige par le vent ou pluie au cours des dernières 48 heures
• Whoumfs ou bruits sourds ou fissures qui se propagent.

Route: Lapped Montana trees three times; keeping out of the alpine; away from the overhead hazard of Mackenzie, and largely below treeline.

Skiing conditions: Really good skiing below treeline; shin to waist deep powder and plenty of untracked lines. More open areas in the treeline were heavily wind affected which made for variable skiing.

Snowpack and avalanche: Significant snow transport with the wind made for variable conditions; with the snowpack becoming less stable and touchy in treeline. Whilst skinning we triggered a small slab (50cm crown; ~5m width; ~10m run out to a clump of trees) on a convex microfeature in what is usually a heavily skied ~20' angle slope at treeline. No obs of alpine - avoided entirely given the conditions.

Weather: Heavy snow and very strong winds all day; significant snow transport in exposed areas.

Summary: A good day to ski the trees!