[MCR] South Coast, Red Heather Meadows Paul Ridge.

I was sking off the NW side of Paul Ridge today. There was little new snow overnight and the Hazard seemed Moderate. There where plenty of people out testing the slopes and no new avalanches where made. New snow from the past 24 hours formed a 10-20cm moderatly hard windslab which made sking a little challenging.

We dug a pit at about 1550m on a NW aspect.  The hight of snow was 160cm. There are two main layers of concern both ice crusts. One is 40cm down, below last weeks snow. The other is 60cm down, the Dec 12 crust facet combo. Neither reacted to an Extended Colum Test. Chris L got a Rutsch Block 4 score 50cm down, the snow from last week moving on the old surface crust.

The facets are really rounding out. Generally looking much more coastal here than earlier. All snow below 40 cm down was 1Finger and harder. Lots of Pencil and Knife hard layers. Basal layers are rounding well also.

Pretty sure tonights snow will overload the weaknesses in many place. From the sound of the wind and snow outside my tent this is pretty likely happening right now.

Dave Sarkany

ACMG Ski Guide

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