Rosaunt W3

Quick report

Weather

sunny

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes, sunnySlopes

Stayed Away

convexSlopes, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

crusty, hard, powder, windAffected

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSound

Variable snow conditions with a mix of packed powder and wind-scoured snow higher up. Whumpfing on a variety of aspects and elevations mostly where wind slab was present with facets or surface hoar underneath. Depth hoar observed around shallow rocky areas. Temperatures stayed cold enough to stave off a wet slide activity however the sun made it feel warm. All slopes greater than 30 degrees appeared suspect with a high degree of spatial variability and poor snowpack structure. It was tempting to get on big solar aspects for corn skiing, but we did not have much confidence that a melt-freeze cycle had solidified the snowpack. With exposed rocky outcrops it seemed likely that you could human trigger a size 2+. Cornices were large and last week's wind visually amplified them, although they may need more heat to release naturally. With that in mind, we carefully added extra distance as a safety margin traveling below them.