Adventures in Windslab

Quick report

aidan.mckenna · Feb 8, 2023 · St. Mary

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Quick report

Weather
sunny, windy
Ride Type
convexSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees, steepSlopes, sunnySlopes
Stayed Away
alpineSlopes
Riding Quality
Good
Snow Conditions
hard, powder, windAffected

Went for an explore to see what the recent snow and wind had done up on Bootleg. The closer to treeline we got, the more wind affected the snow got. Some really good riding to be had, but just have to stay down in the trees!

Snowpack

Dug a hasty pit at 2425m on a SE aspect, 160cm snow depth. Did two column tests. First failed on 15 on the interface between the new windslab and old snow 10cm down and failed on 25 on the crust 35cm down, both resistant planar. Second produced similar results with a failure at 10 on the windslab interface and 24 on the crust, both resistant planar.

Avalanche

Triggered by sluff after riding through a small chute

Incident

Comment
<p>Triggered a size 1 after riding through a small chute and having sluff pick up some of the windslab in the chute runout. Rider got knocked over but stayed in the start zone. Photos show start zone and runout from about the midpoint of the track.</p>
3 photos