Bustin Crust at Fang

Riding quality was:

Terrible

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Deep powder
• Hard
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes

The day was:

• Cold
• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

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

Ski quality ranged in this order from top down: Amazing. Good. Ok. Terrible.

Recent rain up to 1350-1400m and then rapid freeze resulted in 3-5cm crust which made downhill, and even uphill in places, travel extremely challenging and not recommended for the faint of heart. Above 1400m new snow depth increased rapidly to an estimated 40cm. There had also been significant wind resulting in wind slab formation on leeward alpine and tree line terrain features. A few recent storm/windslab avalanches to size 2.5 were visible.

A beautiful day and always worth getting out but the ski down through the breakable crust was hilariously challenging and perhaps even dangerous.