Trappin' Beaver

We traveled far and wide in Beaver Creek today. Any open areas have been hit hard by recent winds, leaving either wind-pressed snow or exposed crust. The shifting winds have made sure no alpine slope has any soft snow left. If you search hard, there are isolated pockets of softer snow in sheltered areas just below treeline. Here, 60 cm of settling snow sits over the Feb. 7 crust. In typically sheltered openings, we found a soft wind slab 20cm thick. Our profile results (CTE SP / ECTN) showed that while it was easy to initiate this layer, it had limited ability to propagate. The result was short cracks and small cookies failing as we rode, but we saw no new avalanches. The day was cool, but not cold with temperatures around -15ºC and light southerly winds. There was a thin layer of cloud and flurries all day, but the snow didn't add up to more than a couple cm.