Deep but not in a good way

Submitted by
ksharman
Observations date
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 19:00
Location
55.098230° N 121.298360° W
Reporting on
  • Snow conditions
Map for Mountain Information Network report: Deep but not in a good way

Snow conditions

Riding quality was:
OK
Snow conditions were:
  • Deep powder
  • Heavy
  • Wind affected
We rode:
  • Mellow slopes
We stayed away from:
  • Alpine slopes
  • Steep slopes

Information

The day was:
  • Cloudy
  • Sunny
Avalanche conditions
  • Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Comments

Went up to treeline in a bowl in the Perry Creek drainage. Deep heavy trail breaking from the weekend's wet dump. Ski penetration 30 cm, foot pen 60+. Pole tests found hollow layer 30-50 cm down. Widespread whumpfing everywhere. Dug a pit and found Hs 200 cm, 10 cm nice pow on top, planar layers at 30, 50 and 80 cm down. Not much reacting in compression tests; CTM19 at 30 down. It was one of those days where the pit didn't look bad, but all the other indicators were concerning. On the flatter terrain that we stuck to, it was too slow to make turns unless it was a bit windblown.
The only snow that held you up enough to make turns was windblown, but this had nice pow on top.
No signs that these released.
Wind affected in the alpine. Looks like cornice fall debris, but hard to tell due to drifting.