West Nile Ski Conditions

Spent a day with a group of avalanche safety course students at West Nile. Mostly overcast, calm day with temperatures in the -8 to -3 range.

We found easy travel, below tree line as long as we were on one of the older up tracks. When breaking trail we were wallowing in knee deep facets.

Dug a pit at 2050m on East aspect, 20 degree slope. HS95. Test results: CTM12 BKN down 30cm on facets.

We found buried wind slab below 15-20 cm's of facets at tree line and above.

Pulled climbing skins just above tree line and skied open mellow terrain in 10-20 cm's of facet powder.

Below tree line was sporty with lots of Christmas trees and quickly deteriorating snow pack which only carried our weight when moving.

We did not observe any signs of insatiability or avalanches.

It was snowing lightly when we were leaving the parking lot at 4 pm.

Cheers,
Mike