Took a peep at the steep

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Convex slopes
• Dense trees
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy

We went for a walk-up Steep creek today to investigate some impressive avalanche reports our friends over at BC Highways led us on to. The skin track was fast and well set from the highway up to the bottom of the bowl. The intel was spot on, we observed a size 2.5 slab avalanche, reportedly triggered by a skier remotely over the weekend. The debris ran full path to the toe of the opposing ridge, taking out 30-40 year old trees with it.

We climbed to ridge top and observed another remotely triggered large slab avalanche (size 3) in Hunter's bowl. Winds were light from the south and light snow transport was occurring.

We dug two profiles on SSW aspects at 1960 m & 2180 m, two very different stories.

Below Treeline, we had no test results and the snowpack was generally rounded. Snow Depth was 300 cm, great skiing.

Our treeline profile, near the old crown from the size 2.5, produced ECTP15 down 32 cm, failing on facets sitting on a crust. Below this surface layer of concern, the rest of the snowpack was predominantly facets and crust as well. This is likely causing the large avalanches we are seeing.

Skiing was terrific in wind sheltered areas, awesome day at the Duffy!