SSV Slackcountry - Twin Cairns, Grizzly trees, Quartz
bryan.daneau,
Saturday 8th February, 2025 10:38PM
<p>Toured in the SSV slackcountry - Twin Cairns Traverse - Grizzly Trees - Quartz ridge. Got some extensive whumpfing on our way to the N face of Twin Cairns on the flats which propagated at least 20m. Nothing to report on our way up to Twin Cairns via W face - slabby but stable. Ridge is in good shape - only had to take off the skis twice for a bit of a bootpack. Grizzly trees in great shape, but a bit thin so had to take care with the deadfall from the Verdant creek fire. Went up Quartz and dug a pit at 2488, N aspect, on a 24deg slope that was lee to the ridge. HS was a whopping 165cm (talk about wind transport). 10cm fist followed by about 100cm of P wind slab sitting on top of the Oct crust, which in turn overlayed about 55cm of facets. Didn't get any CT results, but after two additional heavy whacks, did get the slab to fail down 110cm on the Oct crust SP. We skied back down the wind swept N face as we were pressed for time, but would've been concerned about thick to thin as the wind slab would've thinned significantly lower down (we were close to the ridge where we dug our profile). Good skiing nevertheless - but not outstanding. SH on all aspects - winds were light and the SH was intact even on W aspects.</p>
Terrain Ridden
Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Sunny slopes, Open trees.
Avalanche Conditions
Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.
Snow Conditions
Crusty, Wind affected.
Weather Conditions
Sunny.
Location: 51.03625000 -115.76150000