sky pilot area

<p>Set out to ride the sky pilot zone today off the squamish gondy. AM meeting identified wind slabs(in alpine and exposed tree line) and solar(on south and west aspects) as our main concerns. Todays (feb 6 2019) forecast was moderate low low. Got up to the alpine on the stadium glacier only to find wind slabs on most aspects. Hand shears produced easy to very easy planar results down 30-35cm's on Df's and PP"s on N and NW aspect. we were very surprised to have such easy results and dialled back our terrain choices. Field weather: HS 210cm temp -7 sky clear and winds calm @1700m. Below 1200m snow quickly thins. 1200-1500m snow was stable and seemed well bonded. 1500m and above had heavy wind slabs. PM meeting we changed our danger rating to considerable (alpine) Moderate(treelike) Low (below tree line). Reason was hand shear results shooting cracks and wind slabs. Chatted with a group that tried for the couloirs on ledge and back of sky pilot. they turned around halfway up gun sight couloir due to wind scour and poor skiing conditions. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Dense trees, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Steep slopes, Sunny slopes, Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Wind affected, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Sunny.