Twin Lakes Trees

Quick report

Weather

stormy

Ride Type

denseTrees, openTrees, steepSlopes

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes, convexSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, powder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSnow

We set out early morning to ski West and East facing trees in the Twin Lakes area. On our way up Lighting Strike, we paused to dig a pit in the hope of finding more about the MFcr/FC persistent weak layer. We found it down 100 cm. The two compression tests that we did gave us CTH 25 and 28, one of them being a sudden collapse with some resistance to make it slide, and the other one being a non-planar break. Of the many hand shears done, the general rule was a sudden planar break on the top 15 cm of first-hard snow and a resistant planar break down 40 to 50 cm in 4-finger snow. The West facing trees felt somewhat stable, with some moderate sloughing to manage on the way down. At the bottom of the run, we noticed a size 1.5 to 2 natural avalanche on LSD. We didn't get proper eyes on the crown as it was socked in. We rode East facing trees to finish the day and a skier of the group popped a 8-meter wide slab avalanche, with a 50 cm crown. They managed to hang out tight and avoid the ride down. As the last skier of the group was regrouping, they managed to pop a second slab of the same area. It happened on a convexity in steep, open trees.