Powder Valley Exploration

<p>Headed out to explore Powder Valley under blue skies with some moving cloud. In the trees there was a substantial suncrust from yesterday's warming. In the alpine the wind was cold and strong and the snow was very much wind affected. We skinned from NE to N to NW slopes, with the wind effect lessening on the NW slopes (=nice snow!), but a soft slab still present that failed easily on a weakness ~20cm down on a hand shear. Having seen the remotely triggered avalanche on the same aspect the previous day, we moved cautiously across NW slopes to reach the ridgeline to views of Bennett Lake and of course the strong presence of the wind. Skiing back to the road was an exercise in survival skiing in flat light, as the suncrust did not melt, nor did it support the weight of a skier - yay, breakable crust! Great to explore some new terrain though, and scope out some lines for better snow conditions.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

Snow Conditions

Crusty, Heavy, Hard, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Stormy, Windy, Warm, Cloudy, Sunny.