East side tour

Explored a few areas on the east side via the Big Y valley. We were pleasantly surprised to find a lot more good snow than we thought we would! It seems that the strong north winds from friday saturday didnt affect too much the area. Snow was variable but sheltered north and east facing slope were holding good snow , ranging from shallow powder over a firm wind pressed surface to up to 30cm unconsolidated snow. No new avalanche were observed, only some sluffing on steeper slopes and a few point release on sunny aspects. There was some fairly bold slope testing done by sledders. Although the sun felt warm at times when sheltered from wind, it was still cold out there in part due to the clouds moving in and out. We didnt observe any of the windslab problem over crust in the area but we stayed away from sunny slopes that all have an underlying crust. Overall the snowpack felt solid and well bonded on shady aspects. Windslab was evident on exposed ridges and slopes but de didnt venture anywhere close.