Conditions are excellent for this time of the year:
? With a decent pair of rock skis you can ski about 60-70% of the approach to the Bow Hut up and down. The rest is walking on a well-packed trail (thanks to the dozen or so weekend visitors!) You can use the winter trail for the first canyon (on the left), but the second canyon is still best passed on the summer trail (access it about 100 m into the canyon via an obvious snow slope, above the canyon on the left).
? 30-40 cm ski pen on the glaciers where not wind affected – light fluffy stellars.
? From the little investigation we did of the snowpack, it seems reminiscent more of Rogers Pass than the Rockies… That said, there are some layers failing in the moderate range with Compression Tests, in the upper snowpack.
? Daytime highs of about -9, lows of about -15.
? Lots of moderate winds with frequent strong gusts – plenty of wind transport and wind affect, but also lots of areas with virtually undisturbed snow, e.g. on the Vulture Glacier, S Gordon Glacier.
? Grant Meekins and Meagan Carney skied the West Glacier on Mt. Olive yesterday (Sunday), a steep line up to mid/high 30's, and reported good stability and excellent ski quality.
? At 5:00 pm yesterday the glacier above the Bow hut was firming up with a soft windslab that still offered OK skiing but hinted at possible problems to come . However, as of yesterday evening we saw only minor sluffing on steep terrain (e.g. below the seracs above Bow Hut).
? HS ranging from nil (e.g. around Balfour Pass) to 75 cm (top of the onion skin/glacier above Bow Hut), to 200+ cm (Vulture Glacier, etc.)
Avalanche Hazard summary:
Alpine: Moderate
Treeline: Low
Below Treeline: Snowpack is still a work in progress…
Stability: F-G (deteriorating with wind)/G/~
Regards,
Tom Wolfe
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