Red Heather Meadows Feb 7th

Quick report

Jeremiah.S · Feb 8, 2023 · Garibaldi

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Quick report

Weather
foggy, stormy, windy
Ride Type
mellowSlopes, openTrees
Stayed Away
steepSlopes
Riding Quality
Good
Snow Conditions
deepPowder, heavy
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSnow

We did an evening Red Heather + meadows run at the end of the storm. It was still blowing and visibility ranged from good to poor, snowfall varying between bursts of heavy and generally light but consistent. At the ridgetop of the meadows ~1500m, I got off my skis to transition and sank knee deep in snow, which is about 40cm. Overall I think there was probably 50cm on the more wind loaded slopes and about 30 on the flats. We did not notice any signs of real instability despite the storm, no wumphing, no cracking, or other indicators. Casual tests on trail-side pillows using poles only detached blocks when very significantly cut from the surrounding storm layer. We noted that this seemed to detach around 8-10cm deep on some kind of indefinite (hard to determine) interface (probably between days when it had cooled overnight). The trail had been significantly skied out during the day and by prior parties in the evening.

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