Utica creek, pesky wind slab

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Open trees
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Cold

Pursued a west aspect objective today to avoid wind slabs formed by SW then NW wind in the past week. Despite this, we had some small wind slabs trigger at the very top of our run.

The few slabs were from crossloading along microterrain ridges on the face we skied. They were triggered by more aggressive turns, with no propagation, and disappeared once we were 150m+ down off the main ridge where wind effects likely moderated. Multiple hand shear tests on the ascent away from the crossloaded lee slopes were nonreactive.

It's a good reminder that it's easy to have crossloading windslabs even when trying to selectively ski windward slopes.