Touchy pow
Quick reportsurfacewhoar · Jan 6, 2026 · Shames
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy, sunny, windy
- Ride Type
- mellowSlopes, openTrees, steepSlopes
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes, convexSlopes
- Riding Quality
- amazing
- Snow Conditions
- powder
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSnow
Great riding today on 30-45cm fresh powder above 900m. New snow is touchy at treeline and higher due to buried surface hoar sitting on a thin crust (see avalanche tab). At about 900m, the ice brick crust from the last rain event is still very present and should make anyone think twice before attempting a backflip.
Avalanche
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Trigger Sub Type
- accidental
- Start Zone Aspect
- N, NE
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Avalanche Character
- stormSlab
- Crust Near Weak Layer
- 1
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Avalanche Observation
- 12hrsAgo
- Weak Layer Crystal Type
- surfaceHoar
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- tln
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2026-01-06T19:30:00.000Z
Triggered a size 1 avalanche on the ascent at treeline and two small size 1s via ski cutting on steep, slightly convex features. All crowns averaged 30-40cms and ran on buried surface hoar sitting on top of a very thin crust (about 2mm thick). Observed a few other size 1 avalanches triggered by heliskiers with the same characteristics. Propagation potential was low, as new storm snow was still unconsolidated, but we were surprised by how far the snow ran.