Dust on Crust

Beautiful sunny day up McBride Peak, nice to get up above the valley cloud that covered much of the southern Robson valley today. The ski conditions in the alpine were "dust on crust" but the views were worth the hike. We didn't see any signs of recent avalanches just some evidence of glide cracks like the one in the photo. We avoided that slope as we generally stay off of any slopes with glide cracks on them - especially on sunny, warm or rainy days as it's hard to predict when they will avalanche and warm temperatures increase the likelihood of release. Digging a snow pit on a north facing slope above the treeline, we found no significant weak layers in the snowpack. We felt safe skiing steep alpine lines today due to all the evidence we found pointing toward decreased avalanche hazard in the area.