Avalanche Crest

Quick report

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, steepSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees

Stayed Away

convexSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, crusty

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSlab

Blower day on the Avalanche Crest. No signs of instability or avalanche activity on the way up. Hand shears on the SE slope on the way to the ridge indicated that the top 40cm was bonding quite well. For the most part, the snowpack felt right-side-up with a bonus 20cm of light dry fluff on top. We dug a test profile on the SW slope immediately windward of the Avalanche Crest at 2120m. Feb18 solar crust (1mm) was found 95cm down with rounding facets beneath and a thin layer of facets on top. We got results ranging from easy to moderate SP on the top 25cm (F snow) to a hard, energetic SP on 0.5-1mm facets above the Feb18 crust. On the way down, we kept a conservative mindset due to the Feb18 interface lurking beneath us and the ultra-poor visibility. We only encountered minor sluffing, even when ski-cutting the large convexity midway down the slope. OVC all day and intensifying snow from S1 to S2. Light winds from the SW.