Babine Mountains - Onion/Ganokwa Ck area

<p>Observations from a SLED AST 1 course - Field day into the Onion riding area. Overall much of the terrain is heavily wind affected, from the Dec 4 wind event - previous windslabs are present, but appear to be bonding. There is some surface hoar growth, but only in the valley bottoms below treeline. As usual, snowpack depths in here are shallow and variable, avg depths @ 70cm. We did a quick look at the snowpack in an unrepresentative, and found the Nov 22 crust down 20cm, and the Oct crust right at the ground, moist, and giving variable shear results. The snowpack is warm, coldest snowpack temp was -2.5 - giving a weak gradiant, and a rapidly settling snowpack. Air temps near zero, light winds and scattered cloud. No recent avalanches observed, no obvious instabilties noted. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Sunny slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Steep slopes, Convex slopes.

Snow Conditions

Crusty, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Warm, Sunny.