Big Y

<p>Went to check things out in Big Y last Friday. Wind effect from the past week getting more and more widespread although there are still pockets of good snow to be had if you search for it. The main valley is heavily wind affected and scoured with hard snow (sastrugi, wind slab, scoured to crust) making for not so pleasant travel above treeline. North facing glacier in high alpine and espcially below sharp ridgeline still holding good snow. We saw evidence of numerous old avalanches (estimate 5 to 7 days old or more due to the lack of new recent snow) on north east to north west slopes. All of them were originating from shallow areas and steep slopes immediately below ridgeline. I suspect they were windslab that formed during the last storm cycle with strong south winds. Although some of those avalanches appeared to be of decent size (up to size 2) none of them triggered anything on the deeper snowpack areas below (glaciers). overall snowpack appears thinner in this area compared to west of the highway.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Steep slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

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

Snow Conditions

Hard, Wind affected, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cold, Windy, Cloudy, Sunny.