Falls lake/Zoa peak OBS

A group of us travelled to Falls Lake on March 5 to camp and assess conditions BTL, going to the end of the valley and briefly around the Thar N slide path. Travel was smooth; a few slide paths had sluffed but nothing significant other than the size 3 on Thar N from Feb 28. Snow was very heavy. A pit produced no results, with the snowpack appearing well bonded BTL. Overnight we received 3–5 cm of new snow, with a temperature of -0.6 °C at 0650hr. On March 6 we travelled toward Zoa to ski and assess TL conditions. Snow remained heavy with a slight change around 1600 m. Light snowfall (S-1) continued through the day and winds were mostly calm with some afternoon gusts. Multiple pits on a north aspect produced a CTE1 and 3 down 20 cm on the storm snow, but it did not propagate (ECTX). Although limited testing, it suggested the snowpack around and below TL was generally too warm to move, aside from potential wet loose. Some wet loose activity and pinwheeling was observed on steep slopes in the early afternoon as temperatures (0–2 °C) warmed the snow. Skiing was surprisingly good for the temps. Around 1500hr we descended and rain began, the snow on the pipeline had become very sticky and heavy.