It's snowing, we're elk-static!

AvCan Vancouver Island , Saturday 15th February, 2025 4:15PM

We headed to Elk Mountain to check out how the storm snow was bonding. Road up is in good condition for sledding and we found around 7 cm of fresh snow by noon. Winds were redistributing snow onto north facing slopes, so we stayed at treeline and below. No visibility to see anything around us either. Check out the photos: A quick dig on a north facing slope showed the storm snow sitting over small surface hoar (in this location), and surface facets below that (weak crystals) - this could be an interface for avalanches in areas that have a cohesive slab forming over this layer. A quick dig on a south facing slope showed storm snow sitting over some surface facets, above a thick and hard crust. Again, this could be an interface as snow continues to accumulate. We avoided steep, and convex slopes and found great turns in the trees on the way down. Some cracking in the storm snow around ridgelines, where more wind affect was noticeable.