Hurley - Chipmunk

<p>Riding conditions were surprisingly good today at upper elevations. Alpine and upper treeline features are wind affected, but actually riding pretty well. The snow underneath our machines felt more "wind sifted" than slabby. We started pushing out a bit in the afternoon by making sled cuts and high marks on small previously wind loaded test slopes which did not produce any avalanches or cracking. We stepped up to medium-sized lee slopes and did not get any results there either. In the portion of the Hurley that we explored it feels like the wind slab problem is specifically found on steep lee slopes in the alpine near ridge crest. The sensitivity to triggering seems to be diminishing. Near the end of the day we came across a fresh cornice failure that ran today. It did not trigger a slab on the wind loaded feature it impacted, but we would not have wanted to be underneath the cornice when it failed. Conditions are expected to change a bit tonight, we'll probably be looking for wind sheltered treed terrain tomorrow.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes.

Snow Conditions

Wind affected.