Windslab country

Quick report

yan.kaczynski · Feb 23, 2023 · Shames

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Quick report

Weather
cold, sunny, windy
Ride Type
alpineSlopes, openTrees
Stayed Away
convexSlopes, steepSlopes
Riding Quality
Good
Snow Conditions
powder, windAffected
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound

We skied Happy Valley, on a northwest aspect, from the alpine, to pillow fields, to trees. Strong winds all day in exposed area—sometimes from the west sometimes from the northeast—created dangerous windslabs in the alpine, but our main concerns were from thick and reactive windslabs at and below treeline. We triggered several of them. Snow was still ok to ride, with some really good dry powder in isolated spots. There are a lot of recent crowns and debris in the alpine, some quite large. A lot of wind loading in random aspects—the wind was acting strange today. Be cautious out there.