Elsey - groomers and schmoo

Riding quality was:

Terrible

Snow conditions were:

• Heavy
• Wet
• Wind affected

We rode:

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

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Sunny

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Got quote hot about 10am.

pretty chill day except a brief period of excitement when we set off an avy below us from the top of the ridge. Hang fire kept creeping the slide closer and closer to where we were standing.

Skiing was like a groomer where it was wind effected, actually not bad. Deep heavy schmoo down lower. Another party was skiing a North face north of us and reported similar conditions (but theirs sounded better).

pit on 25 degree open slope near treeline: hard result on column test. Sudden planar failure with very little resistance.

Failed I assume in the exact same spot the slide triggered. A layer of cold facets under the storm snow.

saw lots of recent avys in the alpine, mostly on north or north east faces in depressions.