Ottomite. Blower pow on the coquihalla

<p>Snow was absolutely prime today in the tree line sheltered from the wind. Storm snow over the last week is about 45cms, on top of a crust I am assuming formed from the week of sun last week. The Pit we dug was in a sheltered area on north/northeast aspect, just beneath the summit of Ottomite (1470m). I'm not sure of the conditions from last week in the tree line but if the wind was minimal then this is quite possibley a surface hoar layer. We had 3 fractures all within that 45cm new weekly snowfall. 15cms (most recent snow) fractured easy, 7wrist taps. A layer at 35cms fractured with moderate resistance, and 45cms fractured through half a dozen shoulder taps. All Planar. Didn't have a snowsaw today so the column was a little shotty cut with the pole. The snow beneath the 45cms is quite solid. There were some occasional gusts at the lower level of the tour so I imagine breaking treeline and ridges will see a different story than the conditions we had today at roughly 1400m. Zupjok occasionally revealed itself through the clouds and wind effect on its south facing slope was obvious. </p>

Weather Report

<p>snow came off and on in the afternoon. But when it snowed it did hard and accumulated quickly, covered our down tracks as we were skinning back up. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Dense trees, Open trees.

Avalanche Conditions

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

Snow Conditions

Deep powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Stormy.