Hiding from the wind

<p>We spent the last two days hiding from the strong southerly winds in sheltered, north facing tree line terrain. We found an average snowpack depth of around 1.2m. Up to 30 cm of "upside down" storm snow sits on a variety of old surface including old wind slabs, stiff wind pressed surfaces, and surface-hoar. We found the mid-pack to be mainly faceted after the long cold snap with well a layer of well developed depth hoar above the ground . Strong winds were loading snow far into ridge-top lee features on Saturday. When skies broke on Sunday we could see that the alpine was "worked" with exposed terrain stripped to rock in many places. We saw limited terrain but observed a couple of size 1 natural avalanches that had run within the last 48 hrs in wind loaded terrain at treeline.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Mellow slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

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

Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

Snow Conditions

Heavy, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Windy, Warm.