Crystal Ridge

Quick report

Weather

sunny

Ride Type

openTrees, mellowSlopes, denseTrees, sunnySlopes

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

windAffected, powder

Occasional and isolated whumfing in lower valley bottom trees. This did not seem to continue moving up in elevation. Around 2100m on the SW aspect there were prominent wind affected areas in open treed areas. Some places scoured almost to ground with big drifts on the lee side of features. Very hard bullet proof wind crusts in these spots. This was not continuous and seemed isolated. These crusts were not reactive. Snow in all other areas skied was excellent quality. Ski pen about 20cm average. Transitioned at treeline as alpine was completely wind scoured. Skiing treeline and below was surprisingly great. We did not encounter wind crust/slab in the open treed areas we skied above 2200m. A few parties out and we all skied multiple laps. Generally, travel was really good with recent snow helping the valley bottom skinning. A few sharks here and there, especially in wind scoured spots. Watch out for the willows at lower elevations just under the recent snow. We did dig a quick pit at treeline interface with alpine. Two layers to note were the nov rain crust and a wind crust buried about 30cm down. Snow depth was 90cm at 2400m. No planar failures with the compression test, but settlements did occur on the layers of note. Facets at the bottom of the snowpack looked surprisingly good, there was an almost ‘stickiness’ between the crystals. Not very surgery. Crystals were a mix of angular and round with some larger clumping.

Weather

Avg Temp

-5

Wind Speed

windSpeedLight

Sky Condition

fewClouds

Wind Direction

W

New Snow24 Hours

20

Temperature Trend

steady

Precipitation Type

none

Snowpack

Depth

90

Obs Type

summary

Site Aspect

SW

Ski Penetration

20

Site Elevation Band

tln

Surface Conditions

newSnow