We wish you a McMurdo Christmas

<p>Dec 22-26 ski touring out of McMurdo hut. Still low coverage BTL but manageable/filling in, bushy and a few open creek holes on the exits. NW aspects at TL loaded nicely and skied beautifully! Avoided steeper features where rocks still loom and faceted snowpack means even the more deeply buried ones grab you! Dug a pit Dec 23 (N aspect ~1900m -17deg) found planar surfaces between faceted midpack (suspected pwls) down ~20cm and 40cm. No significant result on CT or ECT. Very touchy storm slab Dec 24 (numerous skier remote triggers) but nothing running far on facets. Avoided big convex / unsupported features. Dec 25 Warm temps (-5 at hut) and a break in the snowfall (saw some sun!), storm slab settled out nicely. Wind slab on specific alpine features, shooting cracks, but again nothing running on facets below. Dec 26 Warm temps (0deg at 2000m), mod winds and steady snowfall all day, great deep (bottomless) pow laps in the trees. Huge transformation in conditions over 5 days! </p>

Terrain Ridden

Convex slopes, Mellow slopes, Open trees, Steep slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder.