Spearhead Range Conditions

The latest Public Mountain Conditions Report paints a pretty good picture of conditions on the coast:

I was skiing in the Spearhead Range yesterday. Clearing sky, wind pressed snow, and warm temperatures prevailed.

A surface crust below 2000m made skiing tricky. NW (lee) slopes above 2200m held good quality skiing  snow.

The skiers and snow boarders where everywhere in the alpine. Thin, steep, rocky areas mainly on north aspects all got tracked. I did not see any slabs pulled and barely even saw a sluff except for isolated South Aspects which were heating making point releases to Size 2.

I dug a quick test pit at 2250m on a NW asp. The only shear deserving mention was a layer on stellars which produced a clean Moderate result down 25cm. The snow here above this interface was too soft and weak to produce a cohesive slab. Below the snow pack became hard and very strong.

Cornices are big!

There is fun skiing in the high alpine.

Dave Sarkany SG