Mt Emma

With ridgetop winds forecasted to be at least 60 mph, we chose to tour Mt Emma in the trees. That way we could get views of the area and could poke our heads out of the sheltered terrain and see how the SW winds were affecting the snow without risk of being blown off the mountain. The snowmobile ride in at 0800 was windy and blustery but when we started to tour in sheltered trees there was no wind and no wind-affected snow. As we gained elevation wind affected snow started to appear.  We made our way to the west face and got the full effect of the wind and could see blowing snow across the terrain.  while in the near tree line terrain we found wind slabs and cracking, we didn;'t venture into exposed  terrain above tree line due to the strong wind  that made it difficult to stay standing. We quickly returned to the sheltered trees , where soft cold snow and the lack of wind slabs made skiing pleasant.

• Average snow depth ranged from 90 cm to 165 depending on wind-loaded features.
• Blowing snow was visible range-wide, there was no new snowfall. It was all old snow being transported.
• High winds and new snowfall tonight will continue to make unstable conditions in exposed terrain due to wind slab formation

Localized wind slabs in Near Treeline terrain. We didnt venture above the tree line, winds were to intense but blowing snow was visible range wide.