Touchy but Excellent
Quick reportSteveSkis123 · Dec 3, 2023 · North Shore
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy, cold, sunny, warm
- Ride Type
- mellowSlopes, openTrees
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes, sunnySlopes
- Riding Quality
- amazing
- Snow Conditions
- crusty, powder, wet, windAffected
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSound
Beautiful day up on Cypress. Decided to stay in simple terrain due to the uncertainty about the forecast and big storm totals. Totals from Thursday/Friday storms was about 40cm in treeline, up to 55-65 cm with North aspects on the deeper side. This sits on top of layer of MfCr, 25-35cm from ground depending on location. We observed numerous whumphing sounds in steeper micro terrain features as we got to elevations that had existing snow prior to the storm (~1250m and above). At the top of Sky chair we observed cornices forming on the North facing backside of Cypress. We attempted to get a better view of the slope but heard very large whumphing sounds down slope of us anytime we approached within 5-6m. These continued regularly while we dug a pit and transitioned in the area. We stayed in mellow terrain within the resort boundaries and ski quality was excellent but many early season obstacles still exist (creeks, bushes, logs, etc.). Areas with more solar radiation had turned heavy and wet by our second lap of the day on Black Mountain. All in all an excellent day but would not be venturing out into more consequential terrain anytime soon.
Snowpack
- Depth
- 100
- Site Aspect
- NW
- Test Fracture
- resistant
- Site Elevation
- 1439
- Ski Penetration
- 20
- Test Initiation
- hard
- Foot Penetration
- 55
- Cracking Observed
- 1
- Site Elevation Band
- alp
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow
- Whumpfing Observed
- 1
- Test Failure Layer Crystal Types
- crust
At higher elevations where there was still snow prior to the storm we observed large whumphs and shooting cracks. 20cm of new storm snow sat atop a thin crust over the 30-45cm below. This is on top of a MFCr from remaining early season snow at higher elevations. ECT H27 RP @ 55cm