Vermilion Peak

We skied up the lower part of the slide path then cut into the trees. At 2150m we joined back up with the slide path and dug a pit on a 20 degree W aspect slope. The snow felt solid and our ECT had no failure. We continued climbing up to the summit ridge finding a mix of powder and windcrust. At the ridge we ditched our skies then continued carefully along the cornices with crampons and mountaineering axes. We stopped 100m from the summit because it was getting really gnarly. We skied back down the entire slide path, enjoying a little bit of powder until 2000m, then it was back to the hard crust. The slope felt stable, but there were some old 0.5 size natural slides in the choke point of the gully.

Small 0.5 natural slide in slide path, around 1800m. Probably occurred a few days to a week ago. Only natural avalanche we saw the whole day.

Weird weather today. It was alternating between sun and snow. Some mod. wind at the summit, otherwise pretty calm.

No signs of instability during the day. Our ECT showed no failure and a pretty solid snow pack. Done on a 20 degree slope.