Mount Cleveland Northeast

<p>We skied up Mount Cleveland today to around from the North east, and topped out around 1700m. The wind was calm most of the day with clear skies, and then later light and southerly in the valley at around 4pm. Temps hovered around -12 to -15 cooling into the late afternoon. As forecast, from around 1000m up we found a mixture of soft storm slab and widespread windslab on S-E through N-E aspects, which had developed in cross-loaded and toploaded terrain from TL into the Alpine. Wind slabs in general ranged 1 finger to 4 finger stiffness from 20-30 cm thick over a lower density layer. Interestingly, as noted by the YK Field Team on the 26th, contrary to weather station reports, all signs pointed to moderate / strong northerly outflow winds having transported the recent storm snow and deposited it onto S - SE slopes. The fresh windslabs at treeline on S facing slopes were the most reactive we encountered all day, and the snow surface on this aspect and elevation ranged from sastrugi to soft storm slab and stiffer buried wind slab with a hollow 'drum' feel. The right combination of terrain and slope angle on south facing slopes at treeline would likely have produced skier triggered avalanches to size 1+. On N through N-E facing slopes, we found widespread old windslab or varying thickness that was uniformly unnreactive to ski cuts and hand sheers and appeared to be bonding to an old crust beneath. No woomphs or collapses on the skin track and no avalanche activity were observed today. On our ski back 'down this mixture of soft slab and wind buffed 'hero snow' skied really very well and consistently, and the only more challenging section was a brief band of sastugi and hard slab as we changed aspects at TL around 1100m. Beneath this elevation we found improving skiing conditions again as we dropped into the BTL terrain, with up to 30cm ski penetration below 1000 and great protected powder back to the valley floor. Coverage was surprisingly good at lower elvations and the ski out was great fun with no obstacles hit. A fantastic day on skis with great turns, fast travel, manageable temperatures and spectacular views into Alaska. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Steep slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes.

Snow Conditions

Wind affected, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cold, Sunny.