Cougar Creek West

<p>We skied the Cougar Creek West off the N aspect of Ross Peak. Chilly downflow winds in the Loop Brook in the AM. Blazingly hot day once exposed to the sun. We booted up 24+ hr-old wet loose debris in one of the Ross SE Couloir where we found a 2-3 cm breakable crust on southerlies (wet surface snow by 11AM) and 30-40cm of light dry powder on northerlies. We measure -5C at 2300m in the shadow. We didn't observe much wet loose avalanche activity, only minor pin-wheeling on SE/S/SW aspects. We found light, dry powder on the north aspect we skied. Absolutely no slab properties whatsoever, even on the immediate lee of the Ross ridge. Pro-tip: don't forget skin wax on a day like today.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder.

Weather Conditions

Sunny, Warm.