Sixmile

We toured up to 7300' on Sixmile Peak. We encountered strong W winds that wanted to rip gear out of our hands while transitioning. From there we headed to calmer meadows, seeking low angle, mid-elevation E facing terrain which held the best snow of the day. Here, we found 1-1.5 feet of snow above the stout crust, on similar elevation S aspects, there was only 4-6 inches atop the crust. The wind was strong enough to load slopes far off ridgelines. 1-2 inches of new snow at middle elevations and the end continued loading throughout the day. Every rollover and test slope we walked on or ski cut on E aspects released a wind slab. These were generally small, but we did find some 8-10 inches thick. Despite the lower new snow totals than further north in the Swan, dangerous slabs existed and we kept our terrain low angle.

Quick report