Deep Snow slogging

<p>We are based out of Haines today. It snowed hard overnight then warmed today. We measured 35 cm overnight and 45 cm of new snow fell over the past 2 days at sea level in Haines. Then it switched to rain this morning in town. We drove up to 5 Mile and skinned toward Marinka’s hill and snow was deep (ski pen 50+ cm). Snow was still quite light in the morning but it got heavier through the day. It switched to rain at 1 pm and the snowpack quickly gained slab properties and started to settle. Wind started blowing from the southeast and trees started shedding snow. Skins started balling up with snow and it was a deep snow slog back to the truck after only a few turns. With poor visibility we saw very little terrain and we stayed in low elevation sheltered areas we didn’t see any new avalanches but the elevated avalanche danger was on our mind all day and we avoided slopes with overhead hazard. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Dense trees, Mellow slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder, Heavy, Wet.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Foggy, Stormy, Warm, Wet, Windy.