Oscar/Sand Mountain 2/26-28

On 2/26 we skinned up to the base of the Oscar Glacier in moderate to heavy snowfall, ascending through the Meadow run. The forest above the Oscar hut requires some sporty skinning, but once we got to the Meadow, the open slope provided knee-deep trail breaking. As we climbed, open areas had at least 80 cm of fresh snow. The moraine at the toe of the glacier had at least a meter of fresh snow and we experienced a lot of dramatic whumpfing- enough that we decided to call it and go home the way we skinned up. Ride quality down the meadow was amazing blower pow. The whumpfing is likely due to protected slopes where surface hoar was preserved prior to this storm cycle. 2/27 we brapped over to Sand Mountain with the intent to ride mellow, south-facing slopes, knowing that the north aspects and trees were harboring surface hoar. It snowed throughout the day, maybe 10 cm as we rode. We experienced some whumpfing on the lowest third of the slope where alder is still poking above the snowpack (preserved surface hoar in a sheltered area on low-angle terrain) but otherwise the snow was stable and the riding deep and fluffy (some might even say great snow for snowboarding). We kept all our riding at or below 30 degrees. Above 1300 meters, the slope was a bit wind affected despite mostly light to occasionally moderate winds during the day. 2/28 back to Sand in bluebird conditions. Snow was still dry and fluffy except on the steepest, most southerly pitches. Again we stayed below the 1300 meter zone because of some wind effect, but throughout the day we had very calm winds. We triggered a small point release slide that stopped running as soon as the pitch mellowed (10 or so meters). For the rest of the day, we opted for mellow, slightly southeast lines for deep, fluffy pow. Some roller balls and point releases observed on steep, south-southwest features.