Bell Couloir

Skied Bell couloir today. Snow conditions were variable, above the roll was stiff and chalky, below the roll and through the choke held 10-20cm of light, non cohesive dry pow over stiffer old surfaces, below the choke held a bit less pow over the same old surfaces. The moraine and below were dust on a supportive crust. We found a very weak, thin melt freeze crust (1cm down) extending part way up the fan on the climb, but it wasn't really stiff enough to notice on the ski down. Boot penetration was 20-30cm most of the way up. Ski quality was pretty good below the roll. Sluff was running most of the way to the fan from below the roll, but didn't entrain too much. The crust from the moraine down to and across the lake was supportive, and the trail down was quite firm and icy when we skied out. Other than moist snow on top of the crust on the lake around 1200, we did not observe much evidence of warming having an effect on the snowpack while we were out.

Light breeze from the Southwest starting at the lake and above kept things feeling cold and wintry. Day started clear, started building high, scattered clouds around mid morning and stayed that way through the day. No precip, didn't observe any wind transport either on the line or at ridgetop.