Badshot-Battle

Snowpack tightening up fast in this area. No weaknesses observed skiing today or yesterday after the big avalanche cycle up on December 21st, where many large avalanches up to size 3.5 were observed. Test profiles the last 3 days showed no significant shears. Skied moderate size features up to 45 degrees today between 1570m and 2250m, but still cautious of large very steep slopes so close after the storm.

We rode up to Silvercup Ridge above Trout Lake today and made it to the lower end of treeline. It was mostly cloudy with brief glimpses of sun and no wind at all. We found about 40cm of recent snow that was moist at the snow surface, making for challenging trailbreaking. Even the dry snow we encountered at about 2100m became moist in the afternoon. We didn't see any recent avalanche activity nor any signs of instability over the day. We dug a quick pit and didn't find any notable results. There were a couple of crusts in the top metre of the snowpack, but only one of them, down about 40cm, gave moderate, resistant results in our compression test.

South west 7200 feet 180cm to ground Compression test ctm 30 hard no result faceted snow from ground to 50 cm , With a strong cohesiveness for 150cm from ground and 30 cm of blower fresh pow on top , small class 1 loose Avy easily triggered on slopes over 30 by our sleds , but really good base 15cm bonded well . Huge dumps in past 24 hours and still dumping !