Tunnel Creek Feb 21-23

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Heavy
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Foggy
• Stormy
• Warm
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• 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.

Spent 3 days at Tunnel Creek Hut touring around. Went into Mcdermid and Trespass as well.

February 21st - cloudy and windy with temps trending warmer. Snow had set up firm and dense with wind effect prevalent in exposed areas. No signs of natural activity although limited vis, other than some old sluff. Stuck in the glades off the beaten path and found some softish snow. Suspicions of the persistent weak layer lurking kept us reserved. No whumpfing noted.

Feb 22 - similar weather to previous day out. Didn’t notice any new avalanche activity. Storm was intensifying throughout the day with some strong winds picking up later in the day. Surface Snow stability was deteriorating as the day went out with some sizeable cracking under ski and shooting outwards. No whumpfing noted.

Feb 23 - heavy (both amount and consistency) snow overnight with some winds. Foggy/ cloudy and warm again. Much needed full reset in the area. Elevated danger kept us in low angle trees and away from any steep open slopes or convexities. Highly unstable storm slab with immediate feedback on any expected terrain features. No whumpfing noted but fractures were dramatically larger than previous days. Some new avy debris noted from Leroy’s run out but nothing observed other than that (limited vis). Snow line was noted at 1550m or so, rain soaked snow below.