West Side Story.

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Deep powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Mellow slopes

The day was:

• Cold
• Sunny
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

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

Today we covered a significant amount of terrain on the west side of White Pass on the motor donkeys. Steady winds from the NE over the last 36hrs have redistributed loose snow into one of three things: 1) Great powder snow in sheltered valleys 2) wind hammered snow in exposed upper ALP and TL features, and 3) wind slab in lee features. Lee features are those slopes that face in the opposite direction from where the wind is blowing or steep gullies that become cross-loaded.

In a place like White Pass, where there is a lot of convoluted terrain, it is important to remember that it is not as simple as saying “since the wind is blowing form the NE, wind slabs will be on the SW”. Really, wind slab can form in any feature that allows for deposition of moving snow. Knowing this, we avoided wind slab by assessing the snow below our skis or track. When the powder snow started to stiffen, perhaps crack, and become drum-like….we backed off. Further, we noted natural avalanches in certain features and avoided features similar to those. The avalanches we saw were 12-24 hours old, mostly size 2 but one larger size 3 west of the Chilkoot trail. Finally, it is important to remember that features that produce wind slab are not “one and done” features. They can reload and avalanche again.

Now that the sun is out and we are pushing Alpine terrain, we are being very careful around cornices. Minimizing our exposure time under cornices and giving them plenty of space when traveling on ridges.

Looks like a great weekend coming up in White Pass!