Full value with a dash of blue collar

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, foggy, stormy, windy

Ride Type

openTrees, steepSlopes

Stayed Away

convexSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

powder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSound

As one may expect, there is very little snow in the forest on the Sugarbowl trail. We were able to ski for most of the first km and had to walk up to 1300m from there before putting skis back on. Snow depth at 1300m is 35cm. Above 1500m, snow depths range from 110cm to 150cm. Had a look in the snow at the top of Norheim's chute where we had repeated moderate sudden shears down 50cm on 10mm surface hoar. Stepping out of the pit we had a whumpf. We decided not to ski it and carried on back down the shoulder and experienced great skiing in the classic Sugarbowl trees. Kept skis on down to about 1300m, where the Rhododendron was too fierce to continue and we walked relatively easily down to the truck.

Weather

Avg Temp

-3

Wind Speed

windSpeedLight

Sky Condition

overcast

Snowfall Rate

2

Wind Direction

S

Storm Snow Amount

20

Temperature Trend

steady

Precipitation Type

snow

Snowpack

Depth

150

Obs Type

point

Site Aspect

NE

Test Fracture

sudden

Site Elevation

1750

Test Initiation

moderate

Test Failure Depth

50

Site Elevation Band

btl

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Whumpfing Observed

1

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

surfaceHoar

Repeated moderate sudden compression test results down 50cm on facets and 10mm surface hoar. No wind affect on the surface snow below treeline on northerly aspects.