SW Chutes and Cleveland

Quick report

Weather

sunny, windy

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, steepSlopes, sunnySlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

crusty, hard, windAffected

You'd have to look pretty hard to find any soft snow these days, as may be expected after a week of strong north wind. Skinning conditions are rough. Bring ski crampons. The SW chutes did have soft wind deposited snow in them and rode nice enough, and the main face of Feather didn't look terrible as that zone was surprisingly spared the worst of the wind. Cleveland is a write-off. A good reset will go a long way. No new avalanches observed, and few red flags. A PSA of note: a glide crack is forming on the main ridge of Cleveland (to the lookers left of the high point at the top of the glacier). It was skiffed over with a thin crust, and one of our crew broke through and went down about 8 feet. Aside from being a bit traumatized he was fine. This isn't a super common place for people to find themselves. But, if you do, the fissure was about 15 m back from the cornice overhanging the main glacier, dead in the middle of the two high points (summit to the north, heavily corniced high point to the south). It is pretty weird.