Reactive slab below treeline

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder
• Heavy

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Open trees

The day was:

• Foggy
• Warm

Avalanche conditions

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

We found conditions touchier than expected, likely due to the fresh snow that also seemed to be more than forecast. We found the storm snow started to consolidate around 1800m, despite no signs of wind effect. The 30-40cm deep slab made trail breaking difficult as it would pop out and slide you down a foot or two with it. We changed to tighter trees with less steep lines as a result, but still had a small feature go while skiing it. It was notable to us, as it was only about 30 degrees and the entire feature slid- the slab propagated several meters across the feature. If this had been a larger opening in this terrain it likely would have pushed the skier into a tree or tree well.

Skiing was more supportive than we expected and very good down to ~1650m. Below that the alders became a challenge.

We returned to this area Sunday and found similar conditions. The slab seemed a little less reactive but we did still have a few small rolls pop and lots of stuffing. Sun made Sunday seem warmer than Saturday.