Surface Hoar, Stable Powdery Snow in Flanders

During our trek up to Narcolepsy and the Champagne climbs, we observed a large amount of surface hoar atop the snow. There were large (1/4-1/2”) flat crystals growing from the snow sitting on a small icy faceted layer. It seemed to be widespread and was found throughout most of the canyon. We figured this may cause instability during the next snow accumulation.

En route to Narcolepsy, we encountered waist deep powder and very unconsolidated snow. Even higher up near the climb we did not find any evidence of wind slabs or consolidated snow. We did witness a small loose snow avalanche on a sun exposed slope with an obvious fan caused from the moving snow.