ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Archive: December 2005

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

[MCR] Rogers Pass - Asulkan Brk. Dec.28/05

I was up at Rogers Pass after an extended sabbatical due to a cold – timing was good as my recovery seems to be corresponding with a return to good ski quality and reasonable stability.

Basically there is a variable thickness/hardness rain crust that carries skiers (at least on my Mega Bangs 92mm. underfoot) with 20-25 cms. of loose new snow overlying it after last nights snow fall – the crust tapers off at around 8,000ft.(give or take a bit) – it is weakest just below treeline and fairly strong in the alpine. This is just enough snow to make for good skiing today though it is a little tricky just above the mousetrap.

Not tons of natural activity in the valley (some deposits in the mousetrap from the creek sidewalls) and things seem pretty tightened up with the cold weather – though the crust is fairly strong I am guessing that if you did something stupid it would still propagate through it into the deeper weakness – but basically appears to be bridging the lower weakness for now.

It settled in again this evening as I left and was snowing by the time night fell – 10-15 more would be quite nice.

Safe holidays and have a merry New Year,

Scott Davis

Mountain Guide

[MCR] French - Robertson Loop

Dec 28 - attempted the loop today; turned back at the base of the "crux" slope from the Haig glacier up to the Robertson / Sir Douglas col. Was hoping to see that slope blown mostly clean by yesterday's strong to extreme winds, unfortunately it is still 95% snow covered. As far as I dared investigate at the bottom I found 50+ cm of soft new snow, hard to say how much snow is on the upper slope.

Average HS (height of snow) on the upper French is 120 - 150 cm, on the Haig 200cm.

No new avalanche activity noted, most fractures lines from the last few days have reloaded.

Fair quality skiing on the French.

Happy New Year

Rob Orvig

IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] Canmore Ice: Junkyards - Professor's - Coire Dubh

12/27: Junkyards on a balmy day: Surprisingly dry and most everything is in, except the curtain right below the little tree.

12/28: Professors: In spite of morning temps of -4C the first and second tier were spewing water. We walked around it. All other pitches offered dry lines (see Patrick’s report yesterday) with the last pitch being a bit more on the wet side again.

12/28: Coire Dubh: Some visiting European guides reported good and very dry conditions. They found the initial ice pitches very brittle and they didn’t use crampons from the first rock pitch (dihedral) on.

Cheers,

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide

www.ontopmountaineering.com

[MCR] Little Crowfoot

Dave, Jeff, Andy and I skied up to the toe of the Little Crowfoot
(Ferris) Glacier today. This is the glacier to the south of Bow Hut,
with Crowfoot Mountain to the east and "Vulture" Peak to the west.

Wx: No precipitation, max -9, min -10, high thin overcast with valley
fog and fog on the Wapta icefield, calm all day, 2 cm new snow
overnight and 10-15 cm storm snow from the previous several days.

No avalanche activity noted.

Below treeline all the way through the canyon there isn't enough snow
to avalanche. Just below treeline this changes and there is about 50-75
cm of snow, the mid-pack is weak and you punch through it about 50% of
the time both up and down, into the weak facets beneath. The mid-pack
slab here doesn't seem to have a lot of tension in it and there were no
whumpfs.

Once in the moraines, the wind got to the snowpack before the most
recent storm leaving a hard layer that supports a skier. About 10 cm of
soft storm snow lies on top of that. On the bottom are the ubiquitous
facets. This combination resulted in loud whumpfs all the way through
the moraines, every 10 or 20 meters.

So we stayed on terrain less than 30 degrees and away from any large
slopes above. Our late start necessitated a descent from the toe of the
glacier rather than going onto the glacier and summitting Little
Crowfoot peak. I would have been leery of going straight up the steep
toe of the glacier, it's less steep at the easternmost edge of it.

Excellent ski quality to treeline, with the fluff on top of the hard
surface. Once in the trees it wasn't very good, we broke through the
mid-pack into the weak snow near the ground. Lots of small rocks to
dodge on the way out.

I rated the Danger as Considerable in the alpine, Moderate at treeline,
Low below treeline.

Mark Klassen
Mountain Guide
mark@alpinism.com
www.alpinism.com

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rogan's Gulley and The Urs Hole

Hello,

Dec.27 Climbed Rogan's Gulley. The ice is dry and in good shape. There is very little snow in the gulley so there is lots of easy ice to climb. There is also little snow above the route to worry about.

Dec.28 Climbed The Urs Hole. It is also in good shape but has a lot more snow above it to think about. Both finishes are in.

Jesse de Montigny

Assistant Rock Guide

Assistant Ski Guide

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

[MCR] Professor Falls

Did some guiding today on Professors. Up to the trailhead the road has very
little ice, just watch yourselves if your on bikes when you get to the fork
in the road, it is quite icy for 30m or so. As for the trail, it would make
for nice mt biking. On the climb: Expect the first pitch to be very wet.
The main flow was spraying off the top and covered the whole pitch. We
climbed the center on generally good ice. One good thing is that water flow
has yet to really affect the climbs integrity. Running water is on the
surface only and colder overnight temps might reduce the shower effect or
eliminate it by morning. But be prepared for it, with sacrificial gloves and
waterproofs or your climb might end sooner than expected, we took our GTX
clothing off and continued dry above the second pitch.

Patrick Delaney
ASS. AlpineGuide

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Sunday, December 25, 2005

[MCR] Grotto....

Well no news to anyone.. its been warm. Had a look at Grotto today for a
short day of quick mixed climbing. The stream is still in good walking
condition with a few summer condition sections of exposed rock. The climbs
of His and Hers were still up with mental jewellery still being reasonable.
His direct would be sporty and Hers somewhat unreasonable the whole thing is
now a big xmass ornament of sorts. Grotto falls was starting to open on the
right side of the start but overall still looks in pretty good shape. If
the heat continues ice walkers might want to bring rubber boots.

Patrick Delaney
ASS. Alpineguide

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[MCR] Mistaya Lodge

a relay from Dave B. at Mistaya Lodge,

Recent storm snow accumulation 30cm as of this morning, temps hovering near zero. Winds in the valley strong and variable, mountain tops have been obscured for the past few days. Heavy trail breaking, ski pen to mid calf/knee depth.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

[MCR] South Coast update - Dec24 - correction

Apologies - one clarification to previous post, noted in bold

Greetings Sports Fans

Here is a pre-Christmas South Coastal update :

Anyone who has been monitoring the weather and snow reports in the past week knows that something is going on out there, and the next few days may not be the best time to go looking to head for the wild lines to test out your new boards that Santa brought you. That being said, a close watch of the weather and snow condition reports, as they change, will be a real learning experience. These kind of weather patterns can produce interesting results.

Conditions at this time are really changing rapidly. The freezing level is going up and down like a yo-yo which each passing front. Reports of up to a metre of new snow in the alpine in the past 24 hours, with significant winds. Also reports of isothermal snowpack below 2000m with the passing warm fronts.

The next big event will be today and tonight with forecasters predicting copious amounts of sub-tropical precip (30-50mm) with freezing levels reaching 2400 m. Although this elevation may be slightly lower as you move inland. Winds are forecasted to be up to 100 km/hr. Keep in mind all this new precip is piling up over crusts / facets/ surface hoar in the alpine which formed in early / mid December. Although rain may penetrate through these layers at times in the storm cycles, they still might remain preserved at the higher elevations, and remain a concern for while, even if the skiing gets better next week.

Professionals in the Duffey Lake area are expecting avalanches up to size 2.5 in the Alpine and possibly Treeline elevations over the next day or 2.

Many guides are reporting snow dissapearing rapidly at the lower elevations (below 1600 m). In fact Diamond Head has no snow in the parking lot, and it was reported to be a 1.5 km walk on before skis became useful (3 days ago). In contrast to higher elevations, most areas lower than 1800 m are below threshold snowpack levels for avalanching, but keep a weather eye for when the freezing levels drop next week.

There have been a few folks poking around on the glaciers. Crevasses were beginning to bridge, however confidence in their strength will be low for a while yet.

Some useful sites to monitor over the next few days will be :

Whistler.Blackcomb avalanche forecast- http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/weather/advisory/index.htm

Whistler/Blackcomb alpine weather forecast - http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/weather/forecast/index.htm

CAC Public Avalanche Forecasts - http://www.avalanche.ca/

Merry Christmas!

Brian Gould

[MCR] South Coast update - December 24

Greetings Sports Fans

Here is a pre-Christmas South Coastal update :

Anyone who has been monitoring the weather and snow reports in the past week knows that something is going on out there, and the next few days may not be the best time to go looking to head for the wild lines to test out your new boards that Santa brought you. That being said, a close watch of the weather and snow condition reports, as they change, will be a real learning experience. These kind of weather patterns can produce interesting results.

Conditions at this time are really changing rapidly. The freezing level is going up and down like a yo-yo which each passing front. Reports of up to a metre of new snow in the alpine in the past 24 hours, with significant winds. Also reports of isothermal snowpack below 2000m with the passing warm fronts.

The next big event will be today and tonight with forecasters predicting copious amounts of sub-tropical precip (30-50mm) with freezing levels reaching 2400 m. Although this elevation may be slightly lower as you move inland. Winds are forecasted to be up to 100 km/hr. Keep in mind all this new precip is piling up over crusts / facets/ surface hoar in the alpine which formed in early / mid December. Although rain may penetrate through these layers at times in the storm cycles, they still might remain preserved at the higher elevations, and remain a concern for while, even if the skiing gets better next week.

Professionals in the Duffey Lake area are expecting avalanches up to size 2.5 in the Alpine and possibly Treeline elevations over the next day or 2.

Many guides are reporting snow dissapearing rapidly at the lower elevations (below 1600 m). In fact Diamond Head has no snow in the parking lot, and it was reported to be a 1.5 km walk on before skis became useful (3 days ago). Most areas close to the coast are below treeline are below threshold for avalanching, but keep a weather eye when the freezing levels frop next week..

There have been a few folks poking around on the glaciers. Crevasses were beginning to bridge, however confidence in their strength will be low for a while yet.

Some useful sites to monitor over the next few days will be :

Whistler.Blackcomb avalanche forecast- http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/weather/advisory/index.htm

Whistler/Blackcomb alpine weather forecast - http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/weather/forecast/index.htm

CAC Public Avalanche Forecasts - http://www.avalanche.ca/

Merry Christmas!

Brian Gould
Mountain Guide

Brian Gould
ACMG (IFMGA) Mountain Guide / Engineer
P.O. Box 417 Squamish, BC
V0N 3G0
604-892-3570
brian@hautealpine.com
www.hautealpine.com

[MCR] Bulkley Valley

Climbed Reality Check on the ski hill yesterday. Easy drive to the
bottom of the chair. Then laborious trailbreaking to the climb. Snow is
thigh deep in sheltered locations and very rotten. Surface hoar is big
and widespread below timberline. At -3, the ice was very good. The climb
is still a bit chandeliered, but thick enough for long screws. The last
5 m was dripping heavily and overhanging so I abstained. I have no
information on where the rain stops and the snow starts, but anticipate
very unstable conditions once there is a load.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide, Bear Mountaineering and Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222
Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351 fax: 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

[MCR] Field Ice Climbs Dec. 22.

Climbed in Field today. Very warm, around 0c in parking lot.
Went to start on Cascade Kronenburg, way to wet, Carlsberg didn't
have a dry line on it.
Pilsner was also very wet, but had some dryer lines. Around 3pm it
started to snow at the base of climbs and upon descent to parking
lot , turned to rain.
Rained all the way back to Golden and is now -1c in G-Town.
I would strongly agree with Larry, there is going to be some major
avalanche action very soon with the new loading on the poor, faceted
snow pack and a variety of surfaces.
Take care out there.
Merry Christmas.
Rich Marshall
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies Ice climbs December22nd and through Christmas

Went to climb on Mt Hunter(Yoho west) today after abandoning hopes for the Mt. Wilson area. Way too warm everywhere we went. Temperatures were 5c in canmore @6am, 3c in Lake Louise at 7am, 1c in Field @8am. LOTS of cloud, fog and other forms of moisture around. Saw no rain but I bet it fell somewhere and that the snowpack didn't like it.

It is not horrendous, but unless it cools the next couple of days could be a poor time to be hanging around under big avalanche paths or big hanging daggers. There were a few very unusual large natural avalanches in the past few days/week so the warm temps will only tweak the snowpack more.

A thermometer would be a useful tool the next few days as the forecast temps can be way off the actual temperatures in the mountains at any one place or time.

Ice climbing conditions will be great if it cools down and doesn't snow. In the short term however, Santa will know if you have been naughty or nice. Be good and stick to the simple terrain unless you are sure it is COLD and have a Merry Christmas.

Larry Stanier

[MCR] Rogers Pass - Snow!

Out today for a profile trip in the Abbott Ridge area (permanent winter
closure). 23 cm of storm snow starting to slab and offering a few shooting
cracks. Sporty exit to the valley bottom in the trees with many hazards
including some devil's club. Ski quality was pretty good at treeline and
above, with some upside down powder and skis diving once in a while. Waist
deep on the steeper pitches.

The storm continues, moist and warm. Watch out as the load increases.

Jordy Shepherd
IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] Icicle Fairy, Polar Circus and Super Bock

Dec. 19 climbed the rock section of Icicle Fairy with Remy. The ice is very thin and detached so we bailed. The upper pitch looked ok.

Dec.20 climbed Polar Circus with Geoff Ruttan. Ice was in good shape, although the second upper tier was a bit wet. Two bits of important info to pass on: 1) The bolts in the middle of the upper tier are garbage...build an ice anchor (This may be common knowledge?) 2) We witnessed significant rock fall while descending which came from above the second upper tier. It came down the route and could have easily taken anyone out in it's path....We were in the right place at the right time.

Dec.21 climbed Super Bock with Marco. No debris in the gully made topping out on the short steps in to scree entertaining....sounds the same as Barry's last report. The upper pitch is good and steep.

Jesse de Montigny

[MCR] Mountain Conditions Report - December 21

Holiday Greetings,

A brief update of the ski touring conditions over this past week on the western edge of the Monashees, 30 minutes west of Revelstoke. On December 17^th we found ourselves breaking through the week-long valley cloud and enjoying bright sunshine and a surprisingly good day of skiing on re-crystallized surface snow and a blanket of ‘trophy sized’ surface hoar. Though there was little concern for avalanche hazard that day, the writing was on the wall for things to come with the next storm system. The faceted surface snow that was providing for such good skiing today would soon be covered with the forecasted new snow…

The snow pack varied in depth from 85cm at 1700m, to an average of 120cm at 2000m. A couple of quick profiles showed a solid, pencil-hard base layer of 50-60cm. Just deep and strong enough to keep your skis from hitting the logs and stumps which are still very obvious. Directly above this were the remnants of an early December rain crust (2cm/ 1F+), which the typical facets above and below. And above these facets were another 40-60cm of facets and mix forms, blanketed by the aforementioned surface hoar. Felt a bit like ski touring in the Rockies on a really good year!

Yesterday morning we awoke to a blanket of new snow in Revelstoke and with high expectations, drove west to exactly the same location. And what a difference a few days can make! We had arrived expecting to find 20cm of new snow and a ‘touchy’, but easily manageable, surface instability. What we found instead was 2-5cm of new snow overlying the surface hoar and facets, then covered by a 2cm breakable rain crust that extended as high as the terrain would allow (2040m). The ski quality was poor. But more importantly, the surface hoar and facets are now protected by the rain crust in this area, and it’s looking like we’ll have a lingering layer to watch through the holiday season. As it stands, the new December 20^th layer will now require more ‘load’ to become reactive than it would have with out the rain crust. And the consequences of a slab release would be bigger as well.

But who knows, maybe the forecasted rain will flush things out today and tomorrow? Never thought I’d hope for some rain!

Have a safe holiday season everyone!

Paul Norrie

A.C.M.G. Mountain Guide

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

[MCR] Interior Update

Just to update all those people planning their Xmas trip to the interior
ranges - it is definitely snowing again and that means that things are
changing out there in the mountains.

The previous couple of weeks worth of clear and cold weather has left a wide
variety of surface conditions - from suncrust to windslab , loose faceted
snow to surface hoar - which is now covered with the recent storm snow of
the last few days which by most reports is fairly dense giving what is
commonly called upside down powder - on other words a soft slab.

Currently it is snowing steadily in Revelstoke and it sounds like more is on
the way so hazards will only increase over the holidays - so keep alert and
drive safely as I am sure that the roads are none too great either.

Best of the Season to all,
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

[MCR] Glacier Gulch/ Hudson Bay Mountain/ Bulkley Valley

Climbed the right of Twin Falls yesterday. Most climbs are in and
sufficiently fat, only the middle one is still not reaching. Safest
conditions I have encountered there, but frequent spindrift consisting
exclusively of the thick pervasive surface hoar throughout our ranges.
It is now snowing on those lightly. The forecast is now full of
precipitation in all forms, so I suspect that the conditions will go
over threshold quickly. The widespread surface hoar is getting buried
right now.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide, Bear Mountaineering and Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222
Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351 fax: 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca

Monday, December 19, 2005

[MCR] Spearhead Traverse

Spearhead Traverse: December 17, 2005.

Felt like -6, wind SE light to moderate at ridgetop. Limited orographic
effect ridgetop, otherwise clear skys.

Upper snowpack: sastrugi, meltfreeze crust, pervasive/insidious thin
pencil to knife hard windslab over facets... Well settled mid and lower
pack&

Coverage and travel on the upper levels of most glaciers is still thin,
but less problematic than this time last season. Crevasse bridging
deceptively strong with thin strong surface over facets. Travel was
generally fast though ski crampons would be effective on most stepper
climbs.

Elected to climb lower angled NW side of Decker Gl and through the
Decker-Trorey col, rather than climb steeper crevassed and icy NE side of
the glacier. Paterson bypass (2350m) looks bulletproof and still has a
significant schrund sag mid slope. A few threatening cornice tongues off
the North side of Benvolio. The upper notch from the windy-corner after
the gendarme to get onto the Overlord Gl is still a 5m step of low-5th
class rock. There is a short easy rap from a pre-slung block at the top of
this step if you so choose. Lots of sags but passable (in good light) if
you option to descend the Gl down around the N side of Fissile.

Decent skiing off Whirlwind, Cowboy to Singing pass otherwise heinous most
everywhere else on the traverse. Suspect N aspect on the Whistler side
has descent skiing on faceted surface. Of course, all this will change
over the next couple hrs as I sit here looking out my back window watching
the cloud line dropping over Mtn Sproatand.

Appears to have been a couple of parties around the traverse last week

Keith Reid, IFMGA

Saturday, December 17, 2005

[MCR] Observation Sub-Peak

Joshua Levigne and I enjoyed a chilly tour up and over the so-called
"Observation Sub-Peaks" today, skiing down the south bowl from the very top
of the second peak.

Good travel along a well-broken trail into the upper cirque. Past this there
was no sign of previous travel due to the fact that the alpine has been
thoroughly hammered by wind--with the exception of sheltered S and SE
aspects. Ski crampons might be a good idea.

Our run down was a big, pleasant surprise--10-15 cm of low density facets on
top of a bulletproof crust made for a long sweet run. Below treeline the
going is sporty--I busted pretty well every survival ski trick I know. Lots
of early season hazards.

The glaciers on the north side of Obs/Cirque are totally wind scoured and
not worth skiing right now.

We observed no new avalanche activity. Some signs of sz 1-2 on SE aspects in
the alpine. Some whoomfing and minor cracking on E asp (reasonably
sheltered/loaded) at 8000-8300 ft: a 10 cm soft slab with the upper 5 cm
being unconsolidated facets. Average height of snow is around 50 cm, a deli
sandwich of facets, faceting MF crusts, and faceting windcrusts galore. It
doesn't get better than the Rockies in December.

Stability -- from our limited observations I would guess Good in the alpine
(caution on specific windloaded features), Fair at treeline, and Good below
treeline (below threshold).

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

Friday, December 16, 2005

[MCR] Bourgeau Right Hand

Climbed the route today. It is in great shape. The snow cover on the
approach is thin so there are a few sketchy sections. The walk off descent
works with an exposed section to avalanche hazard for about 200 meters along
the skiers right side of the large slide path (Bourgeau 7).

Marc Ledwidge
Mountain Guide

Monday, December 12, 2005

[MCR] Corbin Pass Area

I was up in Corbin Pass area which is located in the Selkirk Mountains about
45kms. east of Revelstoke yesterday.

The weather was mostly sunny with definite solar radiation effects on the
southerly aspects (some snowballs rolling and moist surface snow).

The snowpack was quite a bit shallower (mostly around 80cm. with a maximum
of 100cms. at 2100m.)than what I have been seeing in the Rogers Pass area
and considerably weaker as a result.

There was @ 30cm. of faceted snow over a weak and rotting crust (meaning
lots of faceting going on in and around the crust). There is not much of a
slab yet but when the load comes it will cause some problems in this area
for sure. Some surface hoar was observed (3-5mm) on the surface with
suncrusts forming on solar aspects from the daytime radiation.

Other than that it is hard to recommend that people head to Corbin as the
Alder down low is still pretty thick to say the least.

Tonight (Monday Dec.12) in Revy we had a tease of 2-3 cm. (kind of like a
rockies dump) - other than that not much in the outlook for snow coming our
way for the rest of the week.

Cheers,
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide

[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain/ Glacier Gulch

On a hike toward the glacier today, I found the ice climbable on both main
falls in Glacier Gulch. The other routes vary. The middle falls, which are
great for teaching, are not reaching down and unusable.

There were 35 cm of snow at timberline (1150 m). Two crusts interspersed with
facets, some buried old surface hoar 12 cm down. Wind effect in alpine. No skiing.

--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide
Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca
tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854

Friday, December 9, 2005

[MCR] Mustang Powder/Monashees

As a follow-up to Scott's last post...

I just returned from 7 days from taking the "other" guide's course, at
Mustang Powder, a cat-ski operation east of Revelstoke in the Monashees with
a heck of a lot of snow. Here's the low-down:

Lodge elev: 1740 m
Temps: -10 to -20
40 cm storm snow (Dec 4-5)
Height of snowpack: 150 cm average above 1600 m, less in lower down and in
windswept alpine areas.

Limited alpine observations.

Weather
-------
We experienced moderate to high winds from the NW throughout the week. 40 cm
of storm snow starting on the evening of Dec 4 through to Dec 5. Dec 6-8
were calmer, warmer, and sunnier with a brief temperature inversion on the
morning of the 7th. The high pressure ridge is keeping up a strong fight
against the lows that have been bringing just light to moderate precip to
north and west parts of BC.

Snowpack
--------
Below the November 25 MF crust seems to consist of a dense snowpack that is
well bonded, with a distinctive thick MF/Rain crust from October about 50 cm
from the ground.

Above the November 25 crust there is about 20 cm of facetted snow with the
recent Dec 4th storm snow above it. There is heavy wind effect on all
aspects with lee loading on SE aspects and cross loading on all open terrain
on all aspects observed.

We noted a couple of weaknesses, notably a facet/surface hoar layer about
5-10 cm above the crust, a facet/SH layer at the November 25 interface, and
a mid-storm weakness halfway through the December 4th storm snow. These
weaknesses are settling out quickly. The recent cold weather and clear,
sunny days have resulted in a lot of faceting in the upper snowpack.

Stability
---------
The storm brough poor stability at treeline and above from Dec 4-6, but
things settled out quickly. A widespread avalanche cycle resulted in many sz
1-2 on all aspects which "didn't run far"... By Thursday (yesterday) we
decided: F (alpine) F (TL) G (BTL), which would likely translate to a danger
rating of Considerable in the alpine and Moderate at and below treeline.

Quality
-------
Excellent, deep powder, all aspect, in the trees. In open areas at all
elevations things were pretty hammered; this might change with the faceting.

Forecast
--------
Cool temps and light precip with moderate winds are in the Wx forecast. For
avalanche forecasts, see www.avalanche.ca!

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

[MCR] Whistler area

There has been a CAA Level 1 course in the Whistler/Blackcomb "near"
country for the past few days. Here is a synopsis of what we have seen.

A few cm of snow and cold temps early in the week gave way to broken
skies and temps in the positive range later on, maximums of +2 were
recorded Thursday. Light winds. Snowpack depths variable: not enough
snow below treeline to avalanche; at treeline and in the alpine depths
range from 70 to 130 cm.

Two melt-freeze crusts are found at all aspects and elevations, one
down 10-20 cm under the low density surface snow and the other down
about 50-70 cm. The upper one is only a few cm thick and shows signs of
facetting on either side of it, most notably on upper elevation north
aspects. The deeper one is thick and strong but also shows some
facetting although these facets are not as weak as around the upper
one. Some moderate to hard shears have been found on these crusts, but
nothing consistent. Near the surface in the alpine there are some
windslabs, and inconsistent moderate to hard shears have been observed
beneath these slabs. Surface hoar is buried a few cm below the surface
beneath very soft surface snow but is not an issue at this point.

No avalanche activity has been noted. No reaction of the surface wind
slabs with limited ski testing.

Alpine: Low
Treeline: Low
BTL: N/A

Marc Schoenrank, Assistant Ski Guide
Mark Bender, Ski Guide
Mark Klassen, Mountain Guide

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

[MCR] Candle Stick Maker

Climbed Candle Stick Maker Yesterday Via Hidden Dragon in the Ghost. Extremely strong winds, and a two hour squall gave us 5 cm. Soft and hard slab reacting extremely easily. Good thing that we were in and area that was well below threshold. I am not sure what was like anywhere else, but if the Banff Jasper highway had the same winds as we did, definitely need to be careful of any big open slopes!!!

Second to the last pitch I found quite challenging, very cold ice, and even the ice screws were squeaking and having a hard time going in. Had to clean a lot of ice to get a solid stick! Sure felt like a solid WI 5. The last pitch was quite a bit easier. There was water running, which made for good plastic ice. The draw back was the wind was blowing the water all over the place making us wet, and with –10 degrees temperature, everything froze solid instantly. However was a great day out!

Marco Delesalle
Mountain Guide ACMG/UIAGM

Monday, December 5, 2005

[MCR] Monashee Mtn. report

We are doing a guide training course in the Monashee mountains just west of
Blanket glacier (Monashee Powder Snowcats).

Lodge elev.1600m
Afternoon Weather
Skies scattered
Nil precip.
Temps. Max. -6.5 Pres. -11.5 Min.-11.5
22cm. storm snow
Height of snowpack 109cm.
Light winds from the north

Today we had strong winds from the north as the arctic air moved the storm
of last night out of the area - extensive wind effect in the alpine and into
the Treeline has created soft slab conditions that were quite reactive to
ski cutting in the morning at treeline/alpine but seemed to tighten somewhat
later in the day - some natural activity observed but with all the wind
transport things were being blown in as fast as they failed - most activity
was size 1-2 maximum and limited to unsupported steep features.

Snowpack 30 cm. recent wind affected storm snow - over 30cm. of low density
snow that is sitting on a 5 cm. crust - we have had limited obs. In the
alpine and so far have not seen the buried surface hoar that is being
reported elsewhere. Roughly 150cm snowcover once you are above 1800m.

Hopefully things will be somewhat less blustery tomorrow.
Keep them slippery side down,
Cheers,

Scott Davis
Mountain Guide

[MCR] Howson Range/ North Coast Mountains

On a short trip to the Howsons today, we found 50 cm HS at the lodge (1020 m)
and 60 to 80 at 1200 m. There is evidence of a recent significant cycle that
is now obscured by the strong winds prevailing over the weekend. We could not
get to any fracture lines, but suspect that last week's snow slid on the thick
hard crust below.

A snow profile at 1165 m, SW aspect, showed 38 cm of soft cold snow sitting on
a hard crust that extends from ground to 45 cm. There is a strong gradient and
the soft snow is facetting. There was almost continuous whumpfing and cracking
when travelling at these low elevations. Exposed areas show much wind effect
out of the NW. Skiing is marginal at best. Air temperature was -7 degrees.

The upper glaciers still show much ice, but look skiable.

[MCR] Commonwealth Creek

We went ski touring in Commonwealth Creek (Little Commonwealth Traverse) on Sunday Dec 4.

Looks like the area has seen a fair bit of travel lately, inspite of the fact that the snow depth in the trees is rather skimpy (around 40 – 60cm of faceted snow) and hitting rocks and deadfall is unavoidable. Temps between -16C (at departure at 10AM) warming up to -10C at return to the car at 3PM with the front approaching, which brought about 5 cm 12 hour snow to Canmore today.

Snow pack in the alpine and at tree line was very wind affected and we managed to kick off some very small, hard wind slabs, which went on facets above of a melt freeze crust. The melt-freeze crust itself is loosing strength due to faceting with the cool temps lately. However, no recent naturals observed.

Let’s hope for more snow!

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide IFMGA / UIAGM

[MCR] French Creek / North Ghost

Information a little old, but better than nothing.

051203 – French Creek
Went bush wacking up French Creek in search of snow and solitude on Saturday. Strong winds up high all day with lots of transport. Witnessed 2 natural avalanches, large 2.5’s off of the face above the French Creek ice climbs, powder clouds made it to valley floor but debris stopped short, both occurred about 5 minutes from each other around 10:30am Saturday AM. Large fracture lines visible, both slides were no doubt due to the extensive wind transport occurring at ridge top. Didn’t find any skiing but did find those 3 ice climbs that Tom was talking about a while back. Sporty travel due to the thin snowpack. Encountered a large heard of Mountain Goats, probably 25+ in the heard.

051204 – North Ghost: This House of Sky
Bitterly cold with gusty winds most of the day. No one around except all the heavy machinery working on the flood plains in the river basin proper. Extremely brittle ice on the first 2 short steps then progressively wetter the higher you climb, to the point of running water over ice on the last couple of steps. Combined with the temps it made for cable rope and club like gloves. Very well formed and the ice at the back of the bowl is huge this year.

GBU, Unforgiven, Angle Tears all in and fat. Big drip is well... Big. Silver Tongue Devil is fully formed but looks like a good workout with a short break in the ice about half way. Burning Drowning is in and big, Sliver is there but a little anemic. Quite a few tracks going farther back tot he Valley of the Sun area I would assume. Didn’t get a good look at the Valley of the Birds approach, but would assume that it is in and fat with they way everything else was looking.

We walked up to the base of Phantom falls , it is barely there but there is ice the whole way. Stubby screws for the start then it would be sporty until the pins at the overlap. We didn’t climb it.

Access is the easiest I’ve seen it since I started going to the Ghost. Brand new bridge at the start of the gravel road, the entire road has been grated including the big hill, access over the flood plains of the Ghost river is easy with all the heavy equipment working on the outwash areas. The 2 creek crossings were straight forward, although the first one was deeper than it looked.

Ian Tomm

Sunday, December 4, 2005

[MCR] Jasper ice

Here's a bit of an update from the last few days doing some ice around Jasper.
Dec 3rd -Tangle Falls good climbing, gets the sun for these colder
days. Good beginner training area. The small falls to the right look
good as well.
Dec 4th. Edge of the World. Filled in quite a bit this week. Upper
pitch has some good variations, lower pitch is a bit wet on the right
but good pro (easy 3). Large block above the lower pitch uses a pin
and a thread to build anchor to rap to the bottom. This may be iced
up enough in the next week or so to build an ice anchor on top.
Dec 4pm climbed BS canyon. The one main short grade 2-3 pitch takes
good pro to protect stepping over the toilet bowl feature formed
behind the lower part of the pitch. A bit wet in places but building fast.
Both of the last 2 climbs have improved considerably over this last week.
Peter.

Peter Amann
Mountain Guiding
Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0
www.incentre.net/pamann
pamann@incentre.net

Saturday, December 3, 2005

[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain

First field day for avalanche control on the E slope of Hudson Bay
Mountain. Clear and -14 at 1100 m at 1000 hrs, no snow. Broken, light NW
wind, -11 degrees at 1230 hrs at 1550 m.

Snow profile on SE aspect at 1550 m showed 43 cm of snow. Sequence of
crust and soft facetted layers. Resistant planar shears were near ground
and below first crust 13 cm down, both in large facets. There is a
strong temperature gradient and some depth hoar is visible.

Hudson Bay Mountain is below threshold for skiing and for avalanches.
There was some old debris in the North Kathlyn Path.

The ice in Glacier Gulch seems well formed and safe for climbing. There
are reports that it is thin in places.

Snow is expected starting tonight.

Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide, Bear Mountaineering and Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222
Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351 fax: 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca

Thursday, December 1, 2005

[MCR] Commonwealth

Oops ,Sorry about forgetting my name Trying to get the kid to school on time

Darcy Chilton

ACMG Ski Guide

[MCR] Commonwealth

Up to K country yesterday

Did the Commonweath loop, and was surprised once again with the strength of the Rockies snow pack. Up to 10 cm of mainly low densisity sits atop of a variety of crusts depending on aspect.The minor exception to this was along ridge top where winds had distributed small isolated soft slabs into the lee features. The crusts below the storm snow are variable in depth but consistly support skiing. They support so well that we found it often quicker in the alpine to boot hike than to try and fight to put a skin track in on the hard crust.Ski quality up high was great with dust on crust. Down in the trees it was survival.

Weather observations

Sky : broken

Wind : calm in AM / light with mod gusts in PM from the S

Temps : low -17 / high -15

HS : Varied greatly with treeline being on average 60cm , but in the alpine up to180+cm in lee features

precip : nil

Profile

7000' NE Asp 27degrees

HS 80cm

surface instabilites in the top 20-30cm from last couple of storms- below well settled pack

NO results with tests / be aware of buried pockets of wind slab in shallow features

Avalanche Obs : Surface sluffing in steep terrain

Stability

Alpine: fair

treeline :good

below treeline : good

Early season hazards exist at treeline and below. Be aware of rocks and stumps

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