Blow Me Downs

Riding quality was:

Amazing

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Deep powder
• Hard
• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

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

Good visibility and lower winds then we expected allowed us to pick around this area a little more extensively today.

Evidence of strong to extreme W-SW winds have transported snow into lee features, and stripped windward features.

We tested a lot of small slopes on snowmobiles today and couldn’t get any snow moving. Our NE facing test pit produced moderate Compression Test results, but did want to propagate in ECT’s. Failure was at a thin weak layer on top of this Sunday’s past rain crust.

10-15 cm new snow made for excellent travel into the hills, and lots of fun snowmobiling in protected areas. Stream crossings, and snow bridges continue to strengthen.

We observed a number of small slab avalanches that likely occurred within the last 48 hours, start zones directly under cornices. E-NE facing slopes.

A treat to be up there in such fair weather and healthy snowpack!