Mellow day at Tutti Shutties.

Quick report

Weather

sunny

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees

Stayed Away

convexSlopes, alpineSlopes, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

crusty, powder, windAffected

Nice bluebird afternoon out at Tutshi Chutes. We were curious to see what the north winds brought to these slopes. We found the facets under the storm and wind slab in the trees at variable depths. A dozen hand shears in different spots showed little to no planar weaknesses at the interface (snow didn't slide off easily and along a consistent plane). Most of the fresh snow has been blown off near the top, leaving our old friend wind crust. The quality of the snow in the denser trees was consistently good, but as trees thinned out the changes in aspect and small terrain features (ripples, small hills...) produced a lot of spatial variability, including quick transitions between 10cm ski penetration to hard crusty surfaces.