South Face below Blacksmith Ridge Turn Around

Quick report

Weather

cloudy

Ride Type

denseTrees, openTrees

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

powder

Snowpack

Depth

105

Site Aspect

SE

Test Fracture

resistant

Site Elevation

2307

Test Failure Depth

85

Site Elevation Band

alp

Surface Conditions

facets

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

crust

New snow ( facet ) on top of wind slab affected by sun ( thick 1.5 Inch crust @ 85 CM ) above the rest of the snow pack (all 2 mm facet) produced a full propagation on ECT. Result: ECTSP33. We turned around and staying in the trees. Due to the propagation on the crust layer we knew we didn't want to ski any big terrain were propagation on the 85CM layer would potentially go far. Three taps from the elbow resulted in a sudden planar propagation across the extended column test. The trees below black smith ridge provided amazing skiing. We were happy with our decision.