Ski the shade

Day off tour in a steep basin in the Middle Fork.

• Numerous loose dry and soft slabs ran during the tail of Saturday's storm or were triggered yesterday by skiers or sunshine. These were mostly D1-1.5 with a few D2s, depending on how sustained steep the terrain was.  
• Most slabs were 5”-8”, very soft (F hard) storm slabs caused by heavy snowfall and minimal wind. These were unreactive today; the snow was soft and cohesionless.
• There were also a few thicker slabs at upper elevations where winds had drifted the snow. As we transitioned to wind affected terrain, cracks were easy to produce in drifts, but they were soft, shallow, and isolated.
• We skied steep slopes in wind and sun protected terrain with only shallow sluffing.
• Very cold air temps were pooled below 5000’ and air temps were slow to rise this morning. By 1 pm, we saw active rollerballs and shortly thereafter, a handful of D1 to D1.5 loose wet naturals from mid and low elevation southerlies. We left before the peak of warming, but expect activity continued to expand to more terrain.