[MCR] Coast skiing - Pantheon range May 8-11 - Spearhehad Traverse May 13

 

Just back from a week in the Coast range where excellent spring conditions were encountered – last weeks cooler temps and sunny skies allowed for great travel and powder/corn skiing conditions. This is a bit of old news as weather in BC has taken a turn for more summer like conditions (temps to reach 30 degrees in Revelstoke today).

 

We flew into the Pantheon Range (just north of Mt. Waddington) on Monday May 8 (delayed by one day due to weather that brought us 10 cm. of new snow) with Mike King of Whitesaddle Air Service under clear skies and temps of -6 at 8,000 ft. – we camped in Nirvana pass but I would suggest flying a little further south until you are underneath Mt. Bayamee which will allow you to ski downhill at the end of the day from most reasonable objectives. During the week we observed no new avalanche activity including solar aspects as the crust was staying intact throughout the day.

 

We had good crust formation overnight that continued to support through out the day and flew out Thursday night under clearing skies – Friday brought a brief period of snow showers (10 cm. on the road from Williams lake) as we drove to Whistler to ski the Spearhead. By Friday evening the skies had cleared and temps dropped overnight forming a strong supportive crust with up to 15 cm. of fresh powder on top on higher elevation north aspects. Blackcomb is closed so access is currently from the Whistler ski area. Observed a couple of older large cornice failures with large blocks that ran 2,000 ft, vertical in one case – other than that not much recent avalanche activity – though later in the week I am sure that the new snow started to run on the solar aspects. This is a great time to do the Spearhead as there is no heli ski traffic in the area and the Village is cheaper and way less crowded – something to keep in mind for the future.

 

As mentioned earlier this is old news and the more recent warm temps will require early starts to beat the daytime warming.

 

Have a great spring – time to get the rock shoes out today,

Cheers,

Scott Davis

Mountain Guide