Secondary Conditions

Walked around Secondary and poked some holes in the snow today. I probed the main wind roll on Secondary to 290cm, and did not push out to the thickest part. This feature has a history of failing when it's over 240cm deep, so it is primed and ready now. Recent high winds and new snow have built large windslabs and drifts. Many areas probed were up to 3m, but on average depths in the open were 140-160cm. Treed slopes were closer to 200cm. Limited natural activity noted, with only a sz 1 Dry Loose in steep terrain. Skier reactivity was similar, with some sluffing in steep chutes. Test results showed some RP results in the storm snow, with some moderate sudden planars down a meter on old surface hoar. This seems to be isolated to north aspects below treeline in sheltered pockets. The snowpack is all sitting on 30 cm of very large facets and depth hoar to 4mm. In areas of BC with deeper snowpacks this basal problem has been waking up with the packs getting deeper than 200cm. We seem to be hitting this threshold here now. Ski quality was acceptable today, with poor visibility in the alpine. Great cold powder and lots of face shots.