Decker

<p>Chilly up the lifts on Blackcomb but as soon as the sun came out it was warm! The ski off E Col was very rocky at the top, giving way to nice buttery snow down to Decker Lake. Interestingly, the Decker Glacier seems to have receded so much this summer that there is no longer an ice cliff calving off into the lake! The Decker Glacier is still however heavily crevassed and we weaved around skinning up. Trailbreaking was top of the ski at the bottom to top of the toe near the ridge. Measured 2.2m snowpack on the glacier at ~2300m on sheltered north aspect. The south slopes of Decker were nearly bare with tons of exposed rock and the sun beating down. The North Face run was un-corniced and excellent powder, unaffected by the heat and showing no signs of instability. Skinning up the south side of Disease Ridge was very warm (t-shirts) with the snow turning mushy. North side of Disease was good powder again. We saw lots of point releases from the rocks around Cham Chutes and anything south facing. Further out on the Spearhead were lots of open crevasses. Wedge SF looks pretty windswept and rocky!</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Sunny slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Warm, Sunny.