Narao Shoulder

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes

The day was:

• Cold

Had a quality day of glade skiing up on Narao shoulder today. Weather in the parking lot at 10 am was -17C, bluebird skies and calm with high humidity. There was a moderate inversion with temperatures rising to -8C at 2000m 12pm, winds also calm, although the alpine is heavily wind affected on W-SW aspects that we saw. Lots of avalanche debris in many of the major paths resulting from the last cycle. More concerning were the number of large, loaded slopes that haven’t slid.

CT (x2) results on a 25 degree NW aspect at 2000m gave hard (22) sudden planar results down 45cm on top of a pencil hard icy layer. Also had a hard (24) sudden collapse down 54cm on buried surface hoar. Snowpack measured 85 to 95 cm.

15-20cm ski pen over a supportive crust offered nice turns even through the normal brushy spots and facety creek lines. Boot pen 50cm or to ground depending on luck.