Powderhouse/Waterhouse Tour Observations

We toured on Waterhouse and Powderhouse peaks this afternoon and noticed no red flags of instability in the form of whumphing or cracking. A couple test slopes we kicked at also had no reaction. However, with uncertainty of weak layers deeper in the snowpack we stuck to lower angle terrain and tried to avoid avalanche terrain during our ski.

When we started skiing at 11am light snow was falling, however skies cleared around 1pm and remained clear or partly cloudy in this area for the rest of the afternoon. A consistent breeze was felt from the summits and the southern slopes of the peaks appeared to have significant wind scouring.

In the higher elevation gladed areas there was about 12" of light snow above a denser layer that we could feel with our poles. At lower elevations and in denser treed areas the light snow felt "bottomless" which made it hard to keep speed on the decents in low-angle terrain and made setting the skin track on the ups an endeavor.