5-mile creek area + alpine plateau to the NE

Quick report

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSound

Saturday (first photo): We skiied short laps between treeline and roadside in the 5-mile creek area (sometimes referred to as Rainy Hollow?). A thick snowpack is completely covering the alders and lots of recent powdery snow made for excellent skiing (ski penetration ~30cm). The day was mostly overcast with intermittent snow and around -5C. We noticed some windslabs forming on south aspects at treeline. Sunday (second photo): We returned to the same area and found that a breakable wind crust had formed on most aspects even throughout the forest and down to roadside (although pockets of powder could still be found). Skiing was less appealing than the day before so we went for a tour in the alpine instead. From treeline we skinned across the plateau towards the headwaters of Big Boulder Creek. Alpine snow conditions were hard sastrugi. We observed widespread whumpfing on flat/low angle terrain in the alpine. We navigated low angle slopes to crest the ridge above the headwaters (reaching 59.546375, -136.364111). Beautiful sunny but chilly day (-15 to -20C in alpine).