Circle Lake and Chuting Gallery

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder
• Hard
• Heavy
• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Cold

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.

Obs from East Col to Circle Lake to Disease S to Chuting Gallery. Winds to 70 kph overnight have returned a widely variable combination of soft to hard slabs, sastrugi, exposed crust, and pockets of 15-50cm deep powder. Overnight winds clocked around many points of the compass creating wind affect on almost all aspects of alpine and treeline.

Some good turns in protected alp areas, usually between ribs. Lots of windslabs just below ridgetops or next to ribs, though most were resistent to ski cuts.

Ski penetration increased dramatically at treeline and below, esp in tighter trees, with consistent 40-50cm penetration. Steeper convexities in trees responding to ski cuts with slabs releasing on interface between Saturday and Sunday's storm snow layers on a density change where cooler air temps appear to be facetting the decompising fragments. 30cm crowns the norm and even short slopes piling significant deposits above tree islands-some up to one metre deep.