Touchy Conditions on Mt Hall

Quick report

joelammers · Jan 20, 2019 · Long Range Mountains

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Quick report

Weather
cloudy
Ride Type
openTrees
Stayed Away
convexSlopes
Riding Quality
OK
Snow Conditions
windAffected, powder
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSound

Wind effect from Saturday was fairly widespread in our riding area and gave the surface snow enough cohesion to react as a fairly stiff slab. We skied a long west-facing tree line which ended in an open cut block at 1600m. Classic shooting cracks and drum-like sounds were widespread throughout the cut block. I ski cut a size 1.5 storm slab in a cross-loaded gully (see pics) which failed on large, well-preserved surface hoar over firm bed surface. A smaller slab avalanche at the bottom of the run failed remotely, either by the first avalanche or by me on my exit from the run. With a bit of experience this avalanche problem seems manageable, but things will get tricky when more snow falls and this slab gets deeper!