Y Valley (East Side)

The snow quality down low in the flats was amazing but up in the Y valley the wind was blasting the snow and a wind slab was forming. The snow surface was stiff (although not yet a crust) with about 25-35cm of soft storm snow sitting on a hard supportive layer. There were strong winds blowing up the valley most of the day so I would expect to see some snow transport and loading on lee slopes. The base of the valley was very thin - exposed rocks and even dirt and grass in some areas where it had been wind-scoured. We did see cracking and shooting cracks coming off the skis of the sled in alpine wind-affected areas - I tired to capture with a couple of photos. Also note the chunky snow coming off the sled and around the tracks.