Whitewater Backcountry

<p>Exceptional weekend in the Whitewater Backcountry. Skied Friday and Sunday in the Five Mile Burn (towards Larch Peak) HS was anywhere from 190-210cm. Significant ridge top winds on Sunday morning from the East, typical of the last few weeks. Thin areas were suspect as we neared more exposed areas nearing ridge top with a few settlements. Lots of snow getting distributed into soft and hard slabs adjacent to ridge tops. Of note we skier controlled two Size 1 Wind Slab avalanches (Five Mile burn and Goat Slide) within 50m of ridge top on steep slopes, things quickly improved to low density snow (better) below. The sun didn't get a chance to really heat things up do to the wind keeping things fresh (likely close to -20 in exposed areas) so the west facing slopes stayed cool and awesome! Great cold smoke weekend!</p>

Terrain Ridden

Steep slopes, Sunny slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cold, Windy, Sunny.