Elk Mtn

Quick report

Weather

windy

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes, openTrees, cutBlocks

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

crusty, windAffected

Spent the day on Elk mtn getting constantly flogged by wind, searching (with reasonable success) for remaining pockets of worthwhile snow. Our extremely unofficial calculations suggest that approximately 1.75% of recent storm snow remains in the location where it originally fell. The remaining 98.25% has been stripped and plastered into wind slabs in every location other than very sheltered trees. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Jokes aside - moderate-strong W, shifting to NW winds throughout the day with strong to extreme gusts. Snow transport constantly observed with top loaded and cross loaded wind slabs building on many features. Prior to today's wind event, the area appeared to have received ~15-20cm new snow over the past 48hrs, mostly on Wed into Thurs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - North aspect in sheltered treed terrain skied quite well, all things considered. Steeper north lines off Elk's 1560m sub-peak were wind affected but stable, so long as cross loaded features were avoided. Cut blocks were wind scoured and heinous with intermittent pockets of wind slab to test your reflexes.