[MCR] Little Sifton

Subject: [MCR] Little Sifton
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 20:55:13 -0800
Toured over Little Sifton today. Gave "Puff Daddy" a miss. No new naturals observed today, nor any new skier triggered avalanches. Stability in the upper 50cm of the snowpack seemed quite a bit better in the alpine. Zero wind effect at ridgeline. It was interesting to see all the old ski tracks under the recent storm snow. Surface hoar layer down 40ish was definitely an issue at treeline. Snow got twitchy there so we skied very conservatively down through the elevation band 1900m to 1700m on as low angle terrain as we could find in the Hermit area, away from the worst convexities, ditches and steep openings overhead. Most of the gully walls and convex rolls had gone naturally during the storm in this elevation band. Skiing the debris was still fairly soft though and nothing bigger than a size 2. Beautiful skies and good visibility above the fog bank. Lots of new surface hoar forming on top right up into the alpine, which may not last, we shall see.

We did lots of hand shear tests on the way up and down, skied one at a time through a fair bit of terrain which I don't often do, felt like a good thing today.

Anna Brown
Ski Guide


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