One Hundred & One Kickturns

Skiing in the Holmes today we found that last night’s 15cm had fallen on a layer of smaller surface hoar. We saw signs of a couple recent storm snow avalanches that had failed on this layer. We also found December’s surface hoar preserved down 60-100cm. These feathery crystals (pictured) were much larger at 8+mm! This layer continues to present a low probability / high consequence problem with the full extent of its distribution difficult to nail down. Because of the presence of surface hoar in both problems, we avoided overhead hazards and payed close attention for any whumpfs or shooting cracks. We took a careful approach on our way up, testing the snow and watching where the new surface hoar was buried, before deciding to ski open trees down the lower sections of an avalanche path. The new snow made for some great turns!