The Dragon Sleeps...for now

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy

Avalanche conditions

• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

The dragon sleeps... but may wake up if you poke it in the right spot.

Experienced some very substantial whumpfs on N / NE slopes at 2100m. Very loud, wide, and could feel the snow drop under our skis! Shooting cracks for 10+ meters in some spots.

Dug a profile to see what's up:

CTE3 - sudden collapse - Jan 28 MF crust (3cm thick) was breaking and collapsing on significant facets layer under it (5+cm). Upper snow column dropping 2cm when it failed.

Crust was down 45-50cm on Feb 10th, so deeper now.

3 tap easy result and whumpfs were on lee slopes that had wind loaded, increasing load and pushing the crust to a tipping point. Much safer results in protected areas.

Despite the reactivity, whumpfs, and cracks, there were zero naturals observed and we were not able to ski cut any avalanches.