Rutherford Far & Wide

Not a cloud in the sky as we explored the Rutherford far and wide. We recorded a high temperature of +4 C at 1800 m, but the strong solar and warm temps had surprisingly little effect on the snowpack, even steep south faces only produced isolated small avalanches to size 1. We carefully monitored the snow surface all day and were able to compete a nice circuit, including descending a steep south facing alpine slope late in the day. It could all change in minutes to hours, but last night’s strong refreeze combined with a light breeze allowed the snow to stay pretty cool & wintery. We did see an isolated low elevation loose wet avalanche late in the day. We also saw a few small fresh wind slabs in steep alpine terrain.