Gulf of Slides - South Snowfields

We began our travel towards South Snowfields around 1030 to assess the size of windslabs after recent snowfall brought in about 6.7 inches of snow and overnight winds ramped up to 60-70mph. Wind sheltered areas along our ascent towards the bottom of South Snowfields held soft, new snow, with ski penetration of ~8cm. Similarly, our ascent up South Snowfields had soft snow of variable depths ranging from scoured to 18cm.

Snow toward the bottom of the South Snowfields was cohesionless. As we continued our ascent, slab structure became more pronounced. Snow in this area was lightly cohesive, and hand shears were failing with light force about 6 cm down within the new snow.

Many people were out and about in Gulf of Slides. We traveled up to ~4600 ft and transitioned to begin our descent around 1400.

Cracking around kick turns between 4400ft and 4600ft.