When it blows...it blows!

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Mellow slopes

The day was:

• Windy

Today we were south of the highway in the Crowsnest Pass. We found widely variable snowpack depths depending on orientation to the wind. In the thicker snowpack locations, old pockets of isolated wind slabs were the primary concern. Not going to lie, the skiing/sledding wasn’t any good there because the snow was so stiff. In wind-loaded zones, the December crust was down about 115 cm and well bonded to the surrounding snow in our tests.

When we sampled a more sheltered location, wind slabs were not a problem, but the overall snowpack was weaker with sugary faceted snow above and below the Dec crust. There are still some lingering concerns about human triggering avalanches in steep, shallow rocky areas at treeline and alpine in the South Rockies forecast region.