Rossland

Ski cut several size 1.0 to 1.5 storm slab avalanches, down 20cm, in 35-40 degree terrain. Posted a video on the conditions and how we were choosing terrain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cAJxwsO-4s

Looking for a future line off the ridge of Plewman, we accidentally triggered a cornice. The Cornice then triggered a size 2 avalanche running all the way down. Crown was probably 1m+ Deep by ~50m. No one went for a ride. Wind picked up in the afternoon and we could definitely see the snow being transported. We had no sign of instability during the day… Just deep pow.

We stayed away from a couple steep, convex wind loaded slopes near treeline. We also avoided areas that had potential to be thin HS.

Today was a bit of stepping out as we were interested to see how well the new snow had bonded, and also did some test ski cuts on small unsupported convex rolls in order to see if we could affect any of the deeper layers. No results, just good skiing. Still not confident in the PWLs though.

We took an afternoon lap on the south side of Cutblock and experienced a slight sun crust at lower elevations (~ 1800m) and considerable wind affected snow in exposed areas near tree line (cross-loading with both dense wind slabs and firm wind-scoured sections). There was ~15cm of new snow in the higher elevations, and we found softer, more enjoyable snow in the trees. We dug one pit and completed tilt test, CT, and ECT (see snowpack summary).

Very wind hardened snow at the top, wind will keep building cornices. A variety of dusty crusts down through the trees

AST 2 group went to check out the crown of the old avalanche in Pleuman Basin. We suspect it went naturally around January 14 (9 days ago). The crown is mostly filled in, but we estimated that the depth of the slab was 55 cm, likely a PWL layer from early January. The width of the crown was about 80m and it ran roughly 150m. The debris is still visible and was a healthy size 2.0 avalanche. The slope was 34 degrees at its steepest and 31 degrees near its right flank. NNE aspect, 2040m. Large opening halfway down a mostly treed slope.

Skiing conditions were awesome in the trees!

No signs of instability from the last storm cycle. 12/26 IFrc down ~20 - 30 cm and unreactive.

CTH 23 SH layer, No response from the christmas rain although the crust was very present. Basal facets gave out after CT with some extra force.

Great day skiing mellow pitches off the plewman ridge. Day started getting warm so we kept it simple and had great skiing in open trees. Dug a pit and found a snow depth of 145cms, our ECT test produced no results

Rode North side of plewman and cutblock peak on the 20th-22. Storm snow on the 20th fell with little to no wind. Skiing was phenomenal. Wind on the 21st made some small slabs on east facing slopes that are likely quite large higher up. Heard heavy whumpfing on south facing slopes.

Out with an AST 1 group. We experienced a few loud whumpf's. Upon inspection, our test pit showed propagation of the persistent weak layer down 56cm on surface hoar from mid-November, size 10-15mm sitting on a crust (2cm thick). Test Pit: 1910m, S aspect, 10 degree slope, HS 105cm CTM(RP)17,14 down 34 on SH size 3-5 (Dec 7?) CTH(SC)24,23 down 56 on SH size 10-15 (Nov 22) ECTP14(SC) down 56

Attempted to ski the east face of Old Glory but as soon as we dropped off unnecessary ridge things got crusty. Small debris was observed underneath some cliff bands probably from earlier in the week. Attempted to boot up one gully but the crust was just too thick. Need a warming period to make this skiable. Glory still has some very large cornices. Skiing back into Plewman basin was pretty good.

Ascended and descended along approximate route of Plewman Trail to Old Glory summit. Crustiness made for challenging skinning, but ski descents were ok. Avoided steep east face of Old Glory due to observed size 1 avalanche debris and risk of long sliding falls.

Generally nice riding conditions on lower angled slopes and in more shaded terrain where the 12-20cm of new snow was sufficient to keep you off the most recent crust.

We did a couple quick afternoon laps on Kirkup's south face. Snow was variable and wind loaded near the ridge but was much better down low and in the glades. Riding was better than expected.

Great skiing BTL and TL, boot top penetration on the uptrack. Looked at the summit ridge and did a hand shear with an easy planar failure at 30-35cm on what looked like hoar below the recent storm snow which had slabbed up (N aspect, ~2100m). We avoided the steep alpine, skied mellow trees and had a wonderful day!