Twin Lakes Trees

We set out early morning to ski West and East facing trees in the Twin Lakes area. On our way up Lighting Strike, we paused to dig a pit in the hope of finding more about the MFcr/FC persistent weak layer. We found it down 100 cm. The two compression tests that we did gave us CTH 25 and 28, one of them being a sudden collapse with some resistance to make it slide, and the other one being a non-planar break. Of the many hand shears done, the general rule was a sudden planar break on the top 15 cm of first-hard snow and a resistant planar break down 40 to 50 cm in 4-finger snow. The West facing trees felt somewhat stable, with some moderate sloughing to manage on the way down. At the bottom of the run, we noticed a size 1.5 to 2 natural avalanche on LSD. We didn't get proper eyes on the crown as it was socked in. We rode East facing trees to finish the day and a skier of the group popped a 8-meter wide slab avalanche, with a 50 cm crown. They managed to hang out tight and avoid the ride down. As the last skier of the group was regrouping, they managed to pop a second slab of the same area. It happened on a convexity in steep, open trees.