Black Tusk Area

<p>We decided to go take a look at the S facing slopes around the Tusk with hopes of finding a few pockets of powder. Anything above 1800m in open areas was wind hammered with slabs gaining strength and thickness as we climbed higher. We bailed at 1950m on the shoulder of the sub summit SW of the Tusk and skied the lower part of the East Nob route shown on Fat Maps. We estimated the windslab at 1950m to be about 20cm thick and about 5cm thick at 1800m with light, unconsolidated snow below. We didn't see shooting cracks but where we didn't punch through the slab, it was hollow sounding as we traveled across. The windslab would almost disappear on anything south of a protective feature and then reappear as soon as we moved to either side of the protection. We found deep powder in the trees below 1800m and all through Taylor Meadows except in open areas where the snow was starting to get a bit stiff. Made for hard work punching in that new skin track! As a side note, the cornices hanging over the N aspects of Panorama ridge are massive right now. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder, Hard, Powder, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Cold.