Aprils Fools Day Powder!

With rising freezing levels and sun in the forecast today we wanted to check out how the snow was reacting to this new heat. We toured up a ridge feature so we could assess both south and north-facing slopes. As we toured up the south-facing slopes were getting moist and snow was sticking to our skins. We did a few tests on the way up and found the snow (or should I say mashed potatoes!!) was sticking to the old melt-freeze crust. On the north-facing slope we checked out the wind effect to determine the distribution and found that there was only isolated wind slab at the ridge crest. We avoided a convex roll at the top of the slope and enjoyed 20 - 25 cm of soft snow that got progressively heavier as we dropped elevation. We saw very little avalanche activity, mostly small wet loose out of steep, south-facing slopes later in the day. Cornices continue to grow with upper elevation winds today.