Touchy but Excellent

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Powder
• Wet
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Cold
• Sunny
• Warm

Avalanche conditions

• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Beautiful day up on Cypress. Decided to stay in simple terrain due to the uncertainty about the forecast and big storm totals. Totals from Thursday/Friday storms was about 40cm in treeline, up to 55-65 cm in the alpine with North aspects on the deeper side. This sits on top of crusts and old faceted snow.

We heard numerous whumphing sounds in steep micro terrain features as we got to elevations that had existing snow prior to the storm (~1250m and above). At the top of Sky chair we observed wind scoured snow and cornices forming on the North facing backside of Cypress. We attempted to get a better view of the slope but heard very large whumphing sounds down slope of us anytime we approached within 5-6m. These continued regularly while we dug a pit and transitioned in the area.

We stayed in mellow terrain within the resort boundaries and ski quality was excellent but many early season obstacles still exist (creeks, bushes, logs, etc.). Areas with more solar radiation had turned heavy and wet by our second lap of the day on Black Mountain. All in all an excellent day but would not be venturing out into more consequential terrain anytime soon.