Spooky whumps in the Telkwas

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, sunny, warm

Ride Type

alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

hard, windAffected

Today, we rode in the Telkwas. Up to 1400 m, there was a crust on all aspects, which made for a chattery ride and some overheating of the snowmobiles. Above 1400m, a layer of surface hoar has formed and was present on all aspects and elevations at treeline and above. There was still soft snow to be found in sheltered areas at treeline. We dug a snow pit on a north aspect at 1700m and got very easy results during an extended column test. The fracture propagated across the column while we were cutting out the edges of our column, not a good sign. This result was on the February drought layer down 55cm from the surface. We were also able to get an easy compression test result on this layer. We also observed a size 2 natural avalanche just down the ridge from where we dug our snow pit. We also felt a large whump while we were approaching the dig site.