Hairpin Trigger

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder
• Heavy
• Powder
• Wet
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Cut blocks
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Stormy
• Warm

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.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Heavy wet snow from the 8th covered by about 15cm of lower density snow on the 9th. Trees were so loaded with heavy wet snow that we witnessed spruce tress falling over from the snow load.

Sled test on small convex slope yielded a 70cm deep by 20m wide fracture that ran the full length of the hill (50m).

Picked the most mellow terrain we could find.

Saw lots of natural slab avalanches.