Yoots in the Big-Y

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Mellow slopes

The day was:

• Cold
• Sunny
• Warm

Avalanche conditions

• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Couple of trips to the east side this weekend. Big kids trip on Saturday followed a strong temperature inversion. We started at -25C at the highway and were skiing in a balmy -5C in the high alpine 45 minutes later. We witnessed a Na wet loose avalanche cycle out of steep solar aspects running half path. No other avalanches or significant obs on polar aspects. Some great snow out there still.

On Sunday we took the grommets deep into the Big Y for some sled laps. Though it was once again sunny, we observed little to no solar triggering out of steep souths and norths stayed cold and powdery all day.

The east side is particularly boney in many places this year. Storms have hit the west side of the highway more directly and snow amounts are noticeably higher on the west side. In addition, the east side has had the greater brunt of the wind leading to scouring in many places that usually hold heaps of snow. That said, there's still plenty of snow to have fun and some of the sheltered bowls are indeed packed with snow. All depends on where you stick you nose!