[MCR] Butters Creek, Selkirks, March 4-11

A week of guiding in the central Selkirks yielded the following observations....

 

The week began with cold temps and generally stable conditions - a few recent large cornice drops onto nearby steep slopes produced only bomb holes and gouging tracks. Reassuring indeed!  After a day of travel, and a few test profiles, we rated stability as Good at all elevations.

 

During the mid-week, we received about 20-40 cm of storm snow on the March 5 surface (suncrust, surface hoar, and facets). This snowfall came with moderate to strong winds, predominantly from the SW, and temps rose to about -5C at treeline.. Numerous size 2 natural avalanches (windslabs) occurred on Wednesday and Thursday at Treeline and alpine elevations. Lower elevations below 2100 m remained stable with the exception of minor sluffing.. Also 2 size 3's were observed running in steeper terrain on the suncrust on a southerly aspect in the alpine. Tree skiing was indicated, not only for stability reasons, but ski quality.

 

By Friday (March 10), cooler temps (-19C in the AM) and sunny, calm conditions had us poking our heads up high again. Stability tests indicated a rapidly strengthening snowpack, with one exception.....a south facing glacial toe at 2600m. As I started to cross, I felt the ol Feb 20 facet layer, weak as can be, down 60-80 cm with my pole. A quick dig yielded sugary facets almost falling out of the pit wall - 4 finger resistance! This was quite a surprise as every other look into the snow had indicated those facets were much stronger. At this elevation, the buried suncrusts were barely noticeable, and there was a consistant slab on top of those facets. Needless to say we avoided terrain features which could have resulted in a nasty skier triggered event.

 

Ski quality was incredible all week. Nothing like cool temps and light to moderate snowfalls.

 

Beware for the next warm weather event in the Selkirks! Lingering buried weakneses buried in the past month will likely reawaken, and surprise those who have long since forgotten about them.

 

Brian Gould
Mountain Guide