Bailout at Brohm

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Dense trees
• Mellow slopes
• Open trees

We stayed away from:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Foggy
• Stormy
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

With the high avalanche danger in the alpine, we went in search of a place to get some wind and wind slab information without exposing ourselves to avalanche hazard. A quick rip up to Brohm Ridge was just the ticket.

Parking is at 5 km, the road is in pretty good shape with it being a little rocky for the first kilometer or so, then come the whoops. They are still relatively manageable and you are able to cruise over them pretty well. We went past the cabin and made it about halfway along the ridge before whiteout conditions made it too difficult to travel. We dug a pit in the lee at around lower treeline and found a couple layers of wind slab that were moderately reactive in compression tests. Due to the limited visibility which then limited our travel, this may not be a good representation of the avalanche danger in the area as a whole.

It was nice to see many sledders have been making good use of all the simple and non-avalanche terrain during this time of elevated hazard.