Sneaky Good Skiing

Beauty day at Bow Summit today. ~8-10cm of fresh snow, clear skies and low winds made for a great day of skiing from treeline down. Conditions were quite fantastic and “buttery” for how little snow we have received recently. Ridgeline/benches were wind blasted and hard but not bulletproof. We entered all slopes below ridgeline as we were conscious of windslabs. By 1pm snow was beginning to get sun affected on south facing slopes at treeline.

No signs of surface instability at all-everything seemed solid and supported. No avy activity anywhere observed, no shooting cracks or whumphs. Ridgelines and exposed terrain above treeline was super wind affected, but not icy. Dug a hasty pit just at treeline near the end of the standard up track/summer trail before the bowl feature. Dug down about ~40cm to see about how the new snow was bonding to the old “crust” which was degrading into facets on the north facing aspect we dug on into. Failure down 10ish cm on the 2nd tap from elbow, with only the new snow going. Uneven Planar result on the buried facet/crust combo. Rest of the snowpack seemed well consolidated and strong and didn’t budge, even with from shoulder hits. Not enough snow today to cause a problem, but soon this layer will be spicy meatballs.