ProperPow !

southrockies , Wednesday 27th March, 2024 3:45PM

Well, heck, …. Low, Low, Low was a nice avalanche forecast to read eh? There was however the main headline reminder to consider: “Low Danger Doesn’t Mean No Danger” …….. so, reading a little deeper, we saw the important phrase-for-the-day “Watch for isolated pockets of wind slab lingering in the alpine”. So, we made a plan based on: = wind slab hazard in the alpine = sun crust on South-facing stuff = warm schloopyness and crusts down low = a communicative, compatible, similar-level group = no pressure ! …. and headed out to find shaded terrain below the Alpine, but as high as we could make it. Success (see pics :-)! It was -3 at our high point on the ridge at 2200 m, where we could feel a light-to-moderate wind blowing from the South West, but it didn’t seem to be moving much snow. We saw no natural avalanches, nor signs of instability as we skied steeper shaded terrain to the North East. Snowpack depth at 2200 m was 220 cm, with at least 20 cm of soft snow over that supportive crust from the super-warm period a week ago (the “March 21st crust”).