Fraser Chutes - fun snow down low / thin slabs up high

esker.norman , Saturday 21st December, 2024 9:15PM

Great conditions below 1250m (+/-). Conditions as reported by field team - approx. 20cm powder sitting on top of a supportive crust. Leaving tree line, witnessed increased instances of reactive small wind slabs, 5-8cm thick, loosely consolidated.

Lower down (below 1200m) conditions were beautiful skiing and riding. 20cm of powder on a supportive crust - made for great turns! As we reached treeline, we noticed more pockets of wind slab in exposed areas, with some minor crack propagation (1-2 meters). We stopped at 1290m for our first transition and dug a hasty pit. This confirmed that above the rain crust (down 20cm) there was loose snow topped with pockets of lightly consolidated windslabs ranging from 5-8cm thick. On our second, lap we continued up a bit further to a maximum of 1351m. Up here, the snowpack was variable in depth - though mostly shallow and wind affected - with many exposed rocks. With the shallow conditions and windslabs, we used this elevation band as a lower angle traverse - avoiding some steeper slopes below, that sat above a terrain trap. Overall the snowpack felt relatively safe and stable - however it was very clear how even a small windslab in the wrong location could still have some decent consequences.