Roughing it for Rethel

Quick report

Riding Quality

terrible

Snow Conditions

windAffected, crusty

We booted it to Rethel couloir on Sunday. This report will be outdated by the coming storm this week but can hopefully help build some knowledge of the snowpack. We hiked in to 1800m before finally exiting the forest and getting skins on. We carefully crossed the lake at the narrowest portion. There were definitely some spots still not solid so be careful as the snow coming in this week might cover some thinner sections. In the couloir itself (N/NW aspect, sheltered, 2000-2250m) we found a very thick 5-8cm wind affected crust covering about 20cm of sugary snow to ground underneath. It was very bare with rocks poking through in several spots. The wind crust was surprisingly supportive and we skied the bottom half of the couloir without breaking through. When we kicked steps we saw no propagation, but we could break off large cohesive chunks (which is why we thought it was more of a crust rather than a slab). It’ll be interesting how this new snow bonds to this pretty hard and smooth layer this week. A lot of walking, not much skiing, still feels like early season.