Surprise Pass

<p>First time touring in the area this season. Big surface hoar (30ish mm) in the parking lot and in the cut blocks heading up to the saddle, getting smaller with elevation, and unseen after 2100m. Maybe blown out from winds through the Sheol valley, as there was a bunch of wind affect, small sastrugi, in most of the valley. Heard a whumph on a thin south facing ALP slope on the descent/traverse approaching the base of the pass. No other signs of recent instabilities. The pass itself looked quite fat on both sides, unfortunately skied pretty horribly with all the wind effect. There were some good turns in wind sheltered trees (also where we started noticing SH again). Maybe tomorrow we'll look for trees. We came across some older debris here and there, but don't know how long its been around. All off thin ALP faces. sz 2ish off cliffs skier's right of pass descent line, accumulating just above the bench. sz 2ish off cliffs skier's left made it all the way to the bottom of the gully.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Crusty, Hard, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Sunny.