2023-04-02 - Sniffing out good snow in times of scarcity
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Coming back atcha with some content from Tuesday. We followed the winds, hiked a little, and hunted down what was probably the one patch of wind blown, fresh pow in Whistler at the time in Flute Bowl. This post is especially interesting because I caught a small, inbounds wind slab avalanche on camera.
Up first, we just have an aesthetic cover pic bc it was a sunny day.
Next, we have a snowboard instructor dropping in and setting off a wind slab avalanche. Essentially, wind blew snow from other parts of the mountain into this terrain feature, leading to an accumulation of fresh snow forming a slab probably ~10-15cm deep on top of the existing snow. The slab of new snow did not bond well to the snow below, forming a distinctive layer on top. This slab then cracked and slid upon impact from a rider, causing a small avalanche.
Third slide has a video of me (not as smoothly) dropping in the same place. Now you may ask, why did I drop in the same spot where we had just seen an avalanche? Longer writeup in the comments for anyone who may be interested.
Fourth, we have me doing some happy powder jumps and accidentally nosediving my board into the snow and filling all my helmet vents with snow.
Fifth, we’ve just got a good vibes run down the neighboring slope with some happy Elliott noises.
Last, we’ve got a nice lil pic halfway up the hike to the top of Flute Bowl.
