One more winter fling, don't ring the Belle for spring!

northrockiesfieldteam , Wednesday 27th March, 2024 5:55PM

We went to Belle riding area today. Some cloud cover and slightly cooler temperatures meant that previously wet surface snow was now firm and frozen. We wanted to see if we could find a bit of soft snow, and check on the early February weak layer. In our snowpack tests at 2230 m on a north facing slope we did get a failure on weak, sugary crystals 65 cm below the snow surface. However, 40 cm of supportive snow above this layer made a human-triggered avalanche unlikely. A large trigger like a cornice fall would be needed to trigger this layer. We skied the middle of the bowl to avoid the shallower, less supportive snow on the edge of the feature. We had some great, fast powder turns in 25 cm of soft snow:)