Blue Sky Anomaly

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

A great visibility day up the Dore with lots of morning sun, clouds and wind increasing throughout the afternoon. We saw evidence of several recent avalanches, all on northerly or easterly wind loaded features. Most of the avalanches we saw we suspected were 24-72 hours old. They were in the size 1.5-2 range and likely around 30cm deep. There was one large anomaly though on a NW chute (photo 1) that ran a lot deeper than the others with a fracture line well over 1m deep.

We chose to ride lower angle alpine lines, avoiding overhead hazards like cornices and steep wind loaded slopes. The skiing was best in the trees where the strong south easterly winds hadn't affected the 20cm's of new storm snow, making for some great powder skiing.