Some more observations from another AST course yesterday.
7:20am in Nelson (550m) -3.5C
8:00am at Evening Ridge Parking (1500m) -16.5C (Yikes!)
At noon at ~1600m it was -6C and clear with thick valley fog. On a low angle southerly aspect the tree bombs started firing left, right and centre. Definitely the biggest hazard of the day. The 15cm surface layer from the last storm was very low density but we saw it densify enough over the day to produce small soft slab avalanches with tree bomb triggers on a west aspect. We didn't get very high, but It would have been interesting to see what the temps were at higher elevations with the inversion.
Warmer temps earlier in the week have settled out the midpack nicely and it carries a skier much better than it did last Sunday. Some less consolidated snow still exist beneath the early Nov. rain crust but this crust is starting to break down.
Of note was a significant surface hoar layer with crystals in the 3-6mm range but some up to 10mm! This could be problematic if the forecasted warm snow amounts to much.
Cheers,
Shaun King ACMG / UIAGM Mountain Guide
Mountain Sense Guiding & Instruction