Surprise pass/ Y couloir bonus line.

Quick report

Weather

windy, stormy

Ride Type

steepSlopes, alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

powder

Surprise pass proper was getting an upslope wind that was circulating in the cirque with moderate gusting to extreme re loading the Col on the other side of the north facing slope so be cautious over the next couple days if you are skinning up the Col. After skiing down the face we toured back up to the lookers right into the next couloir where the snow had a 1 - 2 cm wind skin on top of a supportive mid pack. Ski pen was 10 - 15 there was pockets on the skin track where we found 5-10 cm wind slab most likely due to cross loading and the upslope winds but disconnected and un reactive to skis. On both slopes HS was 40-55 cm Crust was present below 2300 roughly 3cm thick and super supportive which saved us in the run out with the presence of a rock mine field. At 1850 crust was beginning to break down only semi supportive to skis with the additional spiciness of a HS of 10-20cm We observed a lot of wind transported snow through out the day with blowing snow at ridge top spindrift loading and running as sluff in the steep terrain. Watch for the great white sharks.