Skied to the upper end of Hospital Bowl today to do a profile to ground.
Temperatures were -18 at 2540 meters, with light wind, and sunshine. Of
note, there is an easy shear down 25cm within the storm snow (sudden
collapse), however the surface slab does not yet seem cohesive enough to
propagate - yet. The mid-pack was very strong, however the rain crust from
November is still persisting. Although shears are hard, they are clean and
fast when they do fail. Heavy loads such as cornice fall might be enough
to propagate large avalanches on this layer still. The snowpack has
settled considerably, from nearly hip deep last week, to boot top today.
Syl Forest
Mountain Guide.
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