Kootenay Pass Schmoo

Riding quality was:

Terrible

Snow conditions were:

• Heavy
• Wet

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Foggy
• Stormy
• Wet

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

4 extended column tests on N and NE aspects at 1825-1900 meters. All tests showed initiation on moderate taps, down 30-40cms but no propagation. 8 compression tests which predominately had moderate sudden planar results down 30-40 cms on the same storm slab layer. No deeper results.

Saw very little avalanche terrain, but saw a 1.5 down 30 ish cms on 37 ish degree start zone NE aspect at 1900 meters and 3 0.5 to size 1 avalanches at 1900 NE aspect. None of the slides ran very far.

More load may wake up deeper layers on the days to come.