Big White

Toured to the top of big white with the intent of digging a pit and checking the coverage on the back side. Poor visibility, and very strong winds mean’t I instead explored the area around the Falcon chair. Rain layer is now a hard crust about ~30cm under new snow at 1800m and ~40-60cm down at higher elevations. There have clearly been incredibly strong winds in the alpine as much of the new snow has been completely burned off down to the rain layer (which is through all elevations). Below ~1900m the new snow is bonding well to this layer. Above ~1900m and in open areas with wind loading there are large propagating slabs ~10-20cm in depth. These slabs are very reactive and will be tricky to navigate on steeper more unforgiving slopes. Lee slopes especially seemed reactive. Overall: it could be worse. There is a significant difference in the amount of snow from ~1700-2000m. I stayed away from high angle above tree line slopes.