Fairy Meadows - Dec 17-24

Quick report

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, windAffected

We returned yesterday afternoon from a week at Fairy Meadows. Throughout the week we received about 80-90cm of snowfall at the hut. By the end of the week the Dec 17 SH layer was down around 40-50cm at treeline depending on feature. Temperatures at treeline were about -20 to start the week, rising to about -10 by mid week and remaining there. We only made it into the alpine on the 18th, and at that point found the snowpack to be faceted full depth except where fresh wind slabs had formed (15-20cm thick). During the remainder of the trip we skied the trees near the lodge due to heavy snowfall, low visibility and deteriorating avalanche conditions above treeline. The Dec 17 SH layer was present in all areas we accessed (including lee features in the alpine), and very touchy throughout the week wherever there was any hint of slab formation from wind effect. Where a slab had formed above the Dec 17 layer, we observed cracking and displacement of the slab on slopes as shallow as 24 degrees. During the week our group experienced three skier accidental avalanches (Size 1-2) on wind exposed features near treeline - all three running on the Dec 17 layer - the last being a remotely triggered Sz 1 on Friday (23rd). Additionally, the "practice slope" immediately south of the hut ran naturally size 2.5 on Wednesday (21st), and we heard multiple large natural avalanches in the alpine on Tuesday / Thursday (20+ seconds duration). In areas without any wind effect / evidence of slab formation skiing was amazing all week, and we observed no evidence of instability apart from lots of sluffing. We expect that conditions below treeline may also get pretty touchy once the recent snow settles into a cohesive slab.