Shames backcountry

chataway.mike , Sunday 1st December, 2019 7:55PM

North bowl was pretty wind affected (pockets of powder with windslabs), toured past the saddle along the ridge and skied Powder 8's. Nice snow in the trees. Fresh snow obscured any evidence i could find of past surface hoar. No evidence of instability or recent avalanche activity.

Snow conditions were: Wind affected, Powder. Weather conditions were: Cloudy. We rode: Alpine slopes, Open trees. Riding quality was good.

Snowpack

Compression test, 25 deg slop NW aspect, near top of ridge. 97 cm snowpack with 4cm fresh snow on thin windslab. Snow below was right side up getting denser with depth. Two crusts at 57cm and 67 cm down. Two compression tests with sudden result well into hard hits (26-27).

Weather

Thin veil of clouds produced about 5cm in alpine. Calm with light NW wind on ridgeline.