Walked. Dug. Puckered.

AlexWray , Tuesday 16th April, 2024 7:20PM

We went out with the goal of skiing the Dick Creek bowls via Kusawak south shoulder. We stopped to dig and and do some tests at 1475m on a S/SW aspect. We found 190cm of snow, with a layer of 2-4mm surface hoar 25cm down. This surface hoar layer performed moderately in a compression test and extended column test with: ECTP11 down 25 and CTM 11 (SP) 25. With some hesitation, we continued for a few minutes through low angle terrain, and experienced a series of about half a dozen whumps in 10 minutes. At this point, with more significant terrain in front of us, we decided to turn around and ski the 20 degree slope that we came up. The ski was characterized by a firm, supportive wind skin. We also observed several natural avalanches on nearby northerly aspects, one of them to at least size 3. The debris of most appeared to be at least 48hrs old, but one on the NE face of the Guardsmen appeared newer.