Jan 17 SH starting to wake up from 1700-1400 on MacPherson

We enjoyed a great lap in the fingers / burn zones of Macpherson. We paid close attention to the distribution of the Jan 17 SH and modified our plan to a more conservative line when we felt soft slabs over this layer and saw shooting cracks. A few slopes required ski cuts to clean the line before we could ski. We avoided all large, convex steep slopes capable of producing avalanche to size 2. Ski cuts were predictable but a bit sluggish and not propagating beyond our skis. No skicuts were larger than size 1.

Numerous hand shears reveal Jan 17 Sh sz 6-10 most prominent from 1400m-1700m. Layer beginning to crack and react sluggish to Ski-cuts where soft slab present - from either winds or warm temps. We were able to ski cut most unsupported rolls over 38 degrees. Most were small size 1. Crowns were isolated to small features and not propagating wide. We avoided large convex rolls, steep open slopes that had not already sluffed and limited exposure to terrain that we couldn’t ski cut. There was evidence of previous loose dry sluffing to sz 1 past 24-48 hours.