Touchy Montana

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Dense trees
• 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.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Route: Lapped Montana trees three times; keeping out of the alpine; away from the overhead hazard of Mackenzie, and largely below treeline.

Skiing conditions: Really good skiing below treeline; shin to waist deep powder and plenty of untracked lines. More open areas in the treeline were heavily wind affected which made for variable skiing.

Snowpack and avalanche: Significant snow transport with the wind made for variable conditions; with the snowpack becoming less stable and touchy in treeline. Whilst skinning we triggered a small slab (50cm crown; ~5m width; ~10m run out to a clump of trees) on a convex microfeature in what is usually a heavily skied ~20' angle slope at treeline. No obs of alpine - avoided entirely given the conditions.

Weather: Heavy snow and very strong winds all day; significant snow transport in exposed areas.

Summary: A good day to ski the trees!