Observation Subpeak

Fairly good skiing in areas on Observation subpeak. Fresh powder on a semi supportive rain crust below 2500m. Mix of wind affected snow with shallow/deep areas above that. We dropped a fairly large cornice along the summit ridge falling onto the E lee aspect and it popped a small wind slab about 20cm thick but did not run far at all given the mass of the cornice, we were surprised by the lack of a dramatic result. Coverage in the forest was acceptable but not fantastic. Quite windy in the high alpine but nice lower down. A great early season day out! Lots of folks in the area, a size 1 was skier triggered in a cross-loaded gully from a convexity just above treeline on the SW aspect of Observation S. Pretty unsurprising spot for that to happen given the winds today.

Temp inversion, colder in the valley bottom. Winds picked up throughout the day, sustained moderate winds with strong gusts on the ridge tops. Blowing snow all around in the high alpine. Not windy BTL though.

~15cm of fresh powder sitting on semi supportive rain crust until about 2500m. Wind affected snow above there. Some wind-slab formation on NE/E aspects but not as much as expected. We opted to not ski that aspect. Our cornice drop did not result in much.