Over the past five days, we skied in Rogers/Swiss, Uto, Lookout, Illecillewaet Glacier, and Raven areas, covering alpine, treeline, and below treeline terrain. We travelled on south, west, and north aspects, between 1200m and 3050m elevation, with slopes up to 45 degrees.
No natural avalanches were observed, except for dry loose sluffing in steep terrain. We also did not experience any signs of instability, such as cracking or whumpfing.
Skiing conditions were generally good. A sun crust was found at depths ranging from 30-90 cm, depending on elevation and aspect. Snowpack tests identified a faceted layer 40–60 cm down, just above the sun crust, which produced resistant planar results with medium to hard compression test scores. Wind slabs were present in isolated areas, with some freshly formed slabs observed yesterday. No surface hoar was found during our investigations.
HS Swiss Galcier: 140–220 cm
HS Illecillewaet Glacier: 160–180 cm
*Hermit is difficult to ski out of, would not recommend.