South Face below Blacksmith Ridge Turn Around

l.k.caruth , Sunday 16th February, 2025 7:15PM

New snow ( facet ) on top of wind slab affected by sun ( thick 1.5 Inch crust @ 85 CM ) above the rest of the snow pack (all 2 mm facet) produced a full propagation on ECT. Result: ECTSP33. We turned around and staying in the trees. Due to the propagation on the crust layer we knew we didn't want to ski any big terrain were propagation on the 85CM layer would potentially go far. Three taps from the elbow resulted in a sudden planar propagation across the extended column test. The trees below black smith ridge provided amazing skiing. We were happy with our decision.