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
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