After the rains …….

Allison Creek area today (as the groomer was getting loaded out after an season of excellent grooming, thank you!) Observed a number of wet loose avalanches up to Size 2, starting in steeper terrain and running down onto 30 degree slopes but not running full path. We didn’t see anywhere that these avalanches stepped down to deeper layers. At 2100 m, we found the top 20 cm of the snowpack was moist from rain, below which the rain had percolated (seeped through) to the mid-January layer at 90 cm, where it had pooled and soaked the snow. Below that, we found the same consolidating facets that we’ve been seeing all winter. As we left the terrain at 3pm, it was cooling somewhat (0 degrees at 2100 m), and snowing one or two cm per hour (S1, S2). The snowpack was pretty challenging for skiing, isothermal (er …. porridge) to the ground in shallow areas; dense, moist, and grabby everywhere else :-) The Atlas staging was snow+ice-free, and the Allison Creek road was full snow, no bare patches.