I conducted a Backcountry Skills Course over the weekend that took us to Bald Hills and Hilda Valley, and then a guided tour at Bald Hills on Monday, Dec. 30th. Over the 3 days, we saw mostly cloudy conditions with calm to very light winds associated with light precipitation (total HST 5cms). Weather observations were unremarkable after the big wind event last week.

The new snow made for good ski conditions, especially at Bald Hills. Ridgetops have been scoured by winds, but sheltered areas held good powder. The general snowpack is still quite shallow, and there are still lots of rocks and pungy trees to watch out for under the surface snow.

We saw no signs of instability and no new avalanches were observed over the 3 days. Snow profiles were dug in the Hilda Valley on various small wind-loaded features (not ideal for making assessments, but great for teaching). We did collect the following results on Dec. 29th:

CTH29 (SP) dn 40 on FC sz 1-2mm
ECTN29 dn 40
DTN on basal facet/DH layer
HS 140

Windslabs were our primary concern over the weekend. We skied off the summit of Bald Hills and found hard, unreactive windslab just below ridgetop, quickly softening to loose dry snow below. Hilda had similar hard wind slab problems with no reactivity.

Overall, great conditions for a course, but we need more snow for better ski conditions at treeline and below. HS is around 70cms at TL (tapering quickly BTL) both at Bald Hills and Hilda making for challenging ski conditions lower down. Play safe out there folks and Happy New Year!