Mount Field

<p>Excellent skiing found yesterday on Mount Field - get it while it's good. The weather was in and out all day, but generally overcast with brief periods of sun. Temperatures were warm (2C at 1840m, -1.5C at 2600m at 15:00) and winds were generally calm below ridge top. The snow quality was excellent and was dry above 1900m (some sun effect on south facing micro-features). Between 20 and 40 cm of light fluff sits on a well settled midpack. We did a quick pit at 2250m NE aspect, no results on an ECT. Height of snow was ~200 cm at 1840m and ~275cm at 2250m. We observed one size 3.5 avalanche off the west flanks of Mount Ogden, unknown age, likely ran in the last cycle. We also observed sloughing out of steeper terrain on the Mount Field headwall, but nothing that caused a slab to pull out. We skied to the top of Mount Field. Note the new snow isn't well bonded to the underlying layer yet at elevations above 2300m. We got progressively easier hand shears and minor cracking while ascending the headwall. On the way down we were able to ski cut a size 1.5 from steep terrain, it propagated less than 10m across. Beware if the wind or sun come out and slab up the top layer. Also of note is the giant cornice threatening the slopes to the north, to which we gave a wide berth. Overall a great day out skiing.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Steep slopes, Open trees.

Snow Conditions

Heavy, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Warm, Cloudy.