Island Alpine Guides Mount Washington Backcountry

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, sunny

Ride Type

cutBlocks, mellowSlopes, openTrees, steepSlopes, sunnySlopes

Stayed Away

convexSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

heavy, powder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionTemp

20cm recent storm snow came with moderate winds. We approached steeper features with caution given newly formed storm slabs. At Ginseng chute managed to stomp on a small convexity just above the start zone proper and have a small cookie slab slide into the start zone triggering a soft slab size 1.5 with a 25cm high fracture line that took out the entire top of the start zone. On in a similarly steep feature on the north ridge (the most common line of decent) we got the same result with a ski cut producing a size one which covered existing ski tracks. Also saw several natural and skier accidental size 1 loose dry and slabs in steeper features. Snow became moist during the day with direct sunlight and rising temperatures. Island Alpine Guides accesses the Mount Washington backcountry under an agreement with the landowner.