A First Peak

We had our first field day of the season at Bell Mt today. While our focus was on doing rescue practice and refreshing our safety skills, we also took the time to poke around in the snow. We found 30 cm at 1300m (about halfway up the road), 60 cm at 1600m & 75 cm at 1900 m (about the cabin elevation). At treeline about 15 cm of softer snow sat over a stable feeling midpack. Near the bottom of the snowpack (about 20 cm off the ground) there was a few old crusts but these appeared to be bonding well to the snow above. Overall it was a solid looking (but maybe a bit shallow) base for the start of season and we had no concerning test results in our profiles. The weather today was cloudy but relatively mild at -4ºC with some flurries and light, westerly winds. There were signs in the alpine that previous westerly winds had already done their work shifting the snow around. We found some older wind slabs (10-25 cm thick) on north through easterly aspects at upper elevations, but these were stubborn and needed just the right circumstances to get them started while testing on some safe, small slopes. Riding is still early season with lots of twigs and other obstacles in the snow, but there was also some fun left to be found in sheltered pockets at treeline.