Calm Before the Storm

Today in Barnes we found a widespread natural avalanche cycle in the alpine and treeline (ranging from size 1 - 2.5) that occurred during the overnight storm. We did not observe any new avalanches throughout the day. We were pleasantly surprised to find snow at 1600 m at the staging area, however the snowpack below that is diminishing rapidly. The snowpack was 110 cm at 1900 m where we dig a pit. There was a small amount of soft snow on the surface, sitting on a 4 cm breakable crust. Below the crust was 10 cm of rain-soaked snow. We had no results when we did an extended column test. The sun was out for most of the day. There were strong winds from the west at ridge top, moving around the loose surface snow and actively building wind slab. However, the wind wasn’t a player at treeline elevations. The temperatures have been gradually (but slowly) dropping. At 14:30 it was -2.4. We were able to sled from the Corbin staging area, with decent coverage all the way up to Barnes. The sleds broke through the crust with ease, but we can only imagine how challenging the skiing would be!