Ashman Sunday

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Mellow slopes

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Ashman on Sunday. Could still see the tracks from parties on the day before, but they were mostly filled in and evidence of lots of wind transport from the west overnight. Best snow was a bit lower down and in the trees, rather than near ridgetop.

3 or 4 small naturals on direct east aspects near ridgeline. Looks like little windslabs that stepped down to ground. Also of note was a glide crack that had opened up on a steep north aspect above the typical uptrack on ‘northern comfort,’ on the final steep roller before the slope mellows out into the trees at the bottom of the run.

About 70-100cm of snow in the alpine, with a rain crust at about 10 cm above the ground surface. Dug a pit at 1400m on a north aspect. No reactions within the snowpack, except for at the ground surface which gave a ‘pop and drop’ result on CT17 on the alpine heather.