To the Trees!

Quick report

Weather

warm, foggy, cold, cloudy, sunny

Ride Type

sunnySlopes, convexSlopes, cutBlocks, mellowSlopes, openTrees

Stayed Away

steepSlopes, alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, wet

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionTemp

Another fun day poking around the Elk Mountain zone. Skinned up from 500 m to check out the east glades. We observed 20-60 cm of storm snow on top of a supportive crust. In isolated unsheltered areas we observed a storm slab on top of a less supportive solar crust. No signs of instability observed on the way up however. Our main ski line was east facing between 1600-1200 m primarily on 20-30° treed slopes. While descending, the third rider in our group triggered a size 0.5 slide. The snow failed approximately 30 cm down on a firm crust. This was a quick visual observation as the slide occurred above a cliff band and our group wanted to move to a safer spot. After some adventurous route finding we made our way back to the cut blocks. By 2 pm we noticed pinwheeling and warm temperatures ( day ranged from -3° to +5° C). The sun came out and we enjoyed some wet pow turns in one of the cut blocks. Observed melting of the snow on the road below 700 m in the afternoon. Lots of sledders and skiers enjoying the day!