Thar N Couloir

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes

The day was:

• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Skied the N couloir of Thar today. The skin up thar was interesting as the snow was super variable from boot to knee deep powder to bomber wind crust. The snow was mostly wind affected in open areas, basically the majority of the S side of thar. We even observed shooting cracks from windslabs a few times while skinning up. Avy debris from the recent storm cycle a week ago is abundant.

We were hoping the N couloir would be sheltered enough to hold good snow but it was honestly quite horrendous and survival skiing as the wind even got ahold of the chute... The bottom half of the chute was somewhat carveable, the top was unskiable. Did a quick snowpack assessment once in there and thought it was good to go. There was a small windslab that wasn't too much of concern while decending. 2 mandatory rappels to get in there. Good adventure!