No Love for the Facets

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Heavy

We rode:

• Mellow slopes
• Sunny slopes

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Warm

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

With considerable warming and a large WHUMPF we were forced to chose very conservative terrain. A whumpf is caused by the sound a weak layer makes when it fails. Today we were on a flatter slope less than 30 degrees so the whumpf did not initiate into an avalanche. Along with snowpack results showing propagation down 60 cm we weren't feeling the love. We skied away with our tails between our legs down mellow treed slopes. South facing slopes had a sun crust already and the snow was moist at all elevations. We saw evidence of an older natural avalanche cycle from the last storm. As well as more recent solar triggered avalanches up to size 2. Even though natural activity is now tapering off human triggering is a possibility with the weak snowpack structure.