Afton SE Couloir

<p>15 cm of new snow over rain/temperature crust at Loop Brook trailhead. Crust was very supportive in the heavily treebombed Forest of Crushed Souls and made for great bootpacking conditions with one ice axe and no boot crampons. Transitioned back to skinning where the crust got burried under 25 cm of new snow in the openings near 1600 m. Still a few impressive cornices along the NW Ridge of Afton. Last NW facing slope to the Afton-Abbott Col had some isolated pockets of 5 cm thick windslab that got more widespread and up to 20 cm thick upon reaching the col. Two big cornice chunks sent down the SE Couloir did not trigger anything. No results on belayed ski cut either. Digging in the start zone showed mostly progressive density snow with a 3-4 cm thick wind skin. Ski quality improved considerably 20 m below the col. No sloughing produced in the couloir. Steeper pitch down out of the Rampart Bowl produced some sloughing and held the best quality turns. Ski was descent all the way down to valley bottom with close to 20 cm of new snow covering the crust on the very last pitch.</p>

Weather Report

<p>Day started with scattered clouds but a front moved in mid day causing visibility to drop considerably at times.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Sunny.