[MCR] Balu Pass Area- Bruins Ridge - 8812

Cooler day with no winds, Snowing <1cm per hour all day. A rather pleasant day. The snow off the up and down track had a nice bouncy feel to it but still pretty unconsolidated overall. We crossed the exposed bit getting on to Bruins Ridge one at a time and I kept an eye on the steep sidewalls of 8812 bowl on the skiers left. Great skiing with surprisingly little wind or temperature effect. 

Quick profile on approach to Bruins Ridge at 2030m on an South East aspect:

Air Temp: -8, Winds Calm, Snowing <1cm per hour. Snowdepth 160-180cm 

Foot Pen around 150cm! and Ski Pen around 30cm

Progressive increase in resistance down through the snowpack from low density fist snow on top to firmer 1 Finger to Pencil near the bottom. No crust observable anywhere in the snowpack.  Found a slab buried around 35cm down, about 15cm thick. The resistance above and below this 1F+ slab is 4F-F. This slab produced a Sudden Planar shear both above and below it with a Hard Compression Test. No facets or surface hoar found here.

No new avalanches observed in the Connaught Valley. The north face of Cheops has been avalanching frequently. The avalanche path notable for the  Tweedsmuir Incident had run to Size 2.5 filling the creek at the bottom sometime in the last 72 hours and looked like the most recent avalanche in the valley.

Ok thats all for now, gotta go.

Anna Brown

Ski Guide