Ashman

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder
• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Stormy
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Up to 30cm recent low density storm snow over previous facets, surface hoar, wind affected surfaces buried on Dec 8. Moderate south winds throughout the day building windslabs on north thru east aspects. Temps steady -4c. We noted 2 size 2 slab avalanches near 1700m Treeline East aspect on windloaded high 30 degree start zones - these were localized windslabs that ran to top of track. Could not see crowns. Several small size 1 slabs in steep gully walls below 1350m. These were 30-40cm crowns, stepping to the Nov 20 raincrust, suspect failing on the recent buried surface hoar.

In areas protected from the wind, the new snow is slowly settling into a slab - we had no whumpfs, and skicutting small steep rolls only gave isolated cracking. This will likely change with further load and warmer temps settling things into a soft slab.