Ski season is shaping up even though it’s been an interesting start to th e winter. There’s a healthy amount of snow from 1600m upwards. HS at 1600m was 160cm with 25cm HN on the supportive Dec 16 MFcr. HN and HS increased with elevation, 45cm F-F+ HN sat on top of the Dec 16 MFcr (4mm) at 1980m. The snowpack at 1980m still feels unsettled as the probe would fall through snowpack to the ground when placed on the surface of the pack.

There were moderate to strong SW winds and steady precipitation thought the day. Where the HN was wind affected, cracking was observed and sloughing was observed with skier traffic in terrain over 35 degrees. No slab activity was observed, but visibility was limited and we kept it quite mellow given the conditions today. Lower angle terrain skied better as one didn’t feel the crust as much. Good turns were had to 1500m.

There have been numerous size 3.5 avalanches in the past 48-72 hrs, running far into their runout zones.

Conor Hurley
www.arctosguides.com