Soft and hard snow and sluff slide

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Hard
• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes

We stayed away from:

• Cut blocks

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

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

We skinned up the Big Kahuna around lunch to about 1500m, then headed over to Fraser chutes for a quick final lap. A great little day!

On our skin up the big Kahuna, we saw a lot of wind transport happening at the ridge line. We found boot top, light fluffy powder covering the entire face, but it was overtop a very hard surface. This made skinning a little challenging, as the new snow didn't provide good support and often our skis would struggle to get edge grip. Visibility was pretty poor/flat. We didn't notice any snow quality change from the bottom to 1500m.

After our lap on the big Kahuna, we headed over to Fraser chutes for another run. Looking back, we notice a loose dry avalanche had released from the rocks and had covered a lower section of our ski tracks. It must have happened between 1 and 2pm (see the images).

Our lap down the Fraser chutes was very wind scoured and hard, but overlaid with nice soft snow lower down in the trees.