Backside of Gem

Beautiful bluebird day with about 15 cm of mostly untouched powder on the backside of Gem chair. There was a very touchy, consolidated storm slab of about 10-15 cm on the eastern aspect slopes I was skiing. The storm slab cut loose on one steeper open section, propagating about 10 metres wide, and running down the steeper section I was on (see photo). I did not see much evidence of deeper instability in the snowpack. Some signs of significant warming into the afternoon.

Compression test: 15 cm storm slab cut loose at 5 taps from the wrist 25 cm cm slab cut loose at six taps from the elbow No evidence of any weak layers below this storm snow, and the snowpack appears to be "right side up."