ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Archive: February 2008

Friday, February 29, 2008

[MCR] The Rogers Pass

Just out from 4 days at the Pass.

Recieved about 35cm of snow over the period, and it was quite mild, temperature today -2 C at 2200m midday, Connaught Creek drainage.
Significant wind effect from westerly winds past 24 hours in Connaught Creek, creating areas of firm windslab and loading up north and east aspects. Many natural avalanches have run recently from steep north facing terrain ( Mt. Cheops ), some reaching the valley floor.
It seems like the new snow is now settling into a triggerable slab
on top of the late february surface hoar and/or suncrust layer. The frequency of "whumphs" - a suretell indicator of instability - increased dramatically today.

Use careful route selection and there is good safe skiing to be had.

Joel McBurney
Ski Guide

[MCR] Howsons 29 Feb 08

Today we saw a widespread natural avalanche cycle on facets and surface
hoar. Fortunately, the slab is quite shallow - rarely more than 20 cm
and often less. It propagates very easily with cracks shooting 50 m
across slopes. However, it ran slowly and only in quite steep terrain.
It does appear that another crust and facet layer formed on 28 February
and today's avalanches ran on that. A large avalanche ran off Hut Peak
and dusted the valley.

We are moving very carefully and suspect that more load may activate
lower weak layers.

--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
IFMGA/ UIAGM Mountain Guide - Bear Mountaineering and the 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, February 28, 2008

[MCR] updated persistent weak layers paper

I have updated the persistent weak layers paper I originally wrote in late January. You can find the updated paper at: http://www.avalancheinfo.net/Media/Persistent%20Weak%20Layers%20and%20the%20Winter%20of%202007-08.pdf or by going to www.avalanche.ca, clicking on the CAC link, and looking for the link to persistent weak layers info on the main page.

The update discusses the January 26th layer which is now dormant and about 100cm down in most BC ranges as well as the up and coming February 25th layer which is being buried as we speak and became active in select locations in the last 24 hours or so. I also review some more risk management concepts and go over some of the factors that tend to trigger or reactivate dormant PWLs.

The February 25th layer is showing great potential as a performer. I suspect it will become active more readily and will react on a more widespread basis than Jan 26th. This coming weekend could be when we reach critical load and slab properties on this layer, especially in the Cariboo, Selkirk, and Monashee Mountains. Keep your heads up on this one folks.

Cheers,

Karl Klassen
Mountain Guide
1735 Westerburg Road
Revelstoke, BC
Canada
V0E 2S1
250-837-3733
kklassen@rctvonline.net

[MCR] Weeping Wall

Hello

Was out on the Weeping Wall yesterday and it was a busy place - 6 parties on the lower wall! It looked like the first pitch of Snivelling Gully had another day or two in the sun before it falls off.

We climbed the left hand route and you want to pick your line from the base as there is quite a bit of delaminated ice on that route, especially near the top of the second pitch (just before the last big ledge). The ice was nice and sun soaked for the tools but lousy for the screws, with a good 2 inch coating of frost on the surface.

The sun has been very strong on low elevation south facing routes so it would be wise to plan your routes accordingly and aim to be off of them before the heat of the day torches the terrain above you.

Climb safe and have fun!

Cheers

Mike Stuart
Alpine Guide

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Albert Icefields - Interior ranges in general - Feb.27-08

From Scott Davis:

Well it has begun - the Feb.23/26 surface hoar sandwich - which goes to
mountain top and is present in all mountain ranges - is now buried by
anywhere from 15-25cms. of new snow from last nights system.

So far here it hasn't really hit the depth (we have 15cms.) and density
of slab to be reactive in the form of slab avalanches (though some
places reported triggering 20cm. slabs on suncrust/surface hoar
interface with a trigger from a distance - helicopter-remote) - it won't
be long before those threshold values are reached.

I would be especially cautious of those slopes that have a buried
suncrust in combination with the surface hoar as they are likely to be
the earliest to react and may not need much snow.

It looks like tomorrow will give us a break in the weather followed by
another system on Friday/Saturday - so by the weekend things could be
quite touchy and I would urge everyone to practice conservative travel
and ski terrain choice.

This is not something that is going to disapear anytime soon and safe
skiing this spring will require a good knowledge of slope use coupled
with a rational and respectful use of terrain.

Be alert for change!

Cheers,

Scott Davis
Mountain Guide

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

[MCR] Howsons 26 Feb 08

Conditions are changing rapidly and in ways that I have not seen before.
We skied Loft Peak yesterday and found surface hoar to size 2 and 3 all
the way to the ridgetops in all aspects that were not affected by wind.
We actually skied off the summit in surface hoar. That is now buried by
20 cm of new snow. There was little wind to destroy the surface hoar.
Today we skied the north flank of Tom George Mountain and the Solitaire
Ski Peak. The new snow sheared easily on facets. It is quite dense (100
kg/m3) and cohesive. Today there was not enough new snow yet to form
slabs in skiable terrain, but I don't think that time is far off. There
was no visibility all day, but we heard several avalanches off Hut Peak.
At least the skiing was very good for those who had reference ...

[MCR] Rockies - Little Crowfoot

Yesterday (Feb 25) we climbed Little Crowfoot, up the glacier to the north and east of the peak and down the west side moraines. The most significant observation we made was that it stayed cool all day, even at Bow Lake.

Variable snowpack depth, especially at just above treeline and in moraines. These are the elevations/terrain features that I have been most "head's up" in recently. I have had a hard time judging where the true margin is in this terrain with the snowpack that we have so I've been pretty conservative in my route selection.

It doesn't look like there has been much avalanche activity here for a couple of days, but it seems to have been quite active during the warm spell especially on solar affected slopes below rock bands.

Reports from guides coming down from the icefield were that there was significant variability in snowpack depth in the open areas between Bow and Rhonda, from 70 cm to 300 cm. Also reports of hard slabs over facets causing one party to turn back from the steep roll that gains the south ridge of South Rhonda.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Whistler Area Backcountry

Hi, I've been guiding in the Whistler Blackcomb area for the past 3 days. Ski quality has been the best we've had all season. The weather has provided a very nice combination of light to moderate intensity snow falls, and then clearing sometimes sunny periods.

In recent days we have consistently been accumulating new snow every day. This snow has bonded well enough but like always wind loading has created wind slabs in lee features and these do cut out, but usually only the most recent storms accumulation starts to move. The cornices have gotten pretty big and fragile with all the recent snow and wind.

As of yesterday the Avalanche Hazard/Snow Stability was: Alpine Considerable/Fair, Tree LIne: Considerable/ Fair, Below Tree Line: Moderate/Fair. But I'm certain that is changing with today's storm. More face shots coming our way!

Dave Sarkany

Ski Guide

[MCR] Waddington Range Icefield Conditions

I just finished a week of exploratory heliskiing just east and north of Waddington. We skied from the Nuit's in the East to the Queen Bess icefields in the south and the Klina Klini River Valley in the Northwest.

Glacier conditions are generally excellent for this time of year. Last summers poor weather has left a decent old snowpack on the glaciers. This years moderately big snows and lack of strong Katabatic winds means the winters icefields snowpack is quite strong and there is good coverage at the toes of the big icefields.

Of note also, cornices don't seem dramatically huge and this is backed up by reports of lots of strong reverse winds.

Had a look at the Bravo and Angel glaciers from the Pacific Coastal flight and some somewhat backlit views while skiing. (at a respectful distance away from the mighty and sacred Wadd) Both times the light wasn't absolutely perfect but I thought both those glaciers looked a little more rugged than I remember. They looked passable but like they would put up a good fight! So they should, it is Mt. Waddington after all!

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

Sunday, February 24, 2008

[MCR] Rockies - Yoho

We skied a north aspect in Yoho Park today. Our elevation range was between 4800 ft - 7200 ft. Mostly scattered clouds, some moderate west winds but no snow transport on the ridges, temps ranged from -15 in the morning to +4 in the valley at the end of the day.

Snowpack was on the thin side, only about 110 cm. It was weak and faceted, not much in the way of mid-pack strength but still generally carried a skier well. Sometimes you needed to be light on your feet while skiing downhill. Some bits of hard wind slab and wind crust at treeline.

No whumpfs or recent avalanche activity in this area. We did avoid any steep slopes at treeline and in the alpine and gave overhead hazard a wide berth due to the weak snow, recent wind effect at upper elevations and recent avalanche activity.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

Monday, February 18, 2008

[MCR] Rockies - Wapta Traverse

Our group and a Scottish crew tag-teamed across the Wapta Feb 15-18, starting at Bow and finishing at Sherbrooke.

Conditions on the icefield seem pretty normal for this time of year. Of note however was that I probed only 250 cm of fairly low density snow on the toe of the glacier leading to Balfour hi col. That said, coverage on the route to the col was more filled in than I had ever seen it, with few signs of crevasses. I didn't probe higher on the route because I was scurrying away from the seracs, but it was smooth sailing quite close to the rock nunatak pretty much all the way. The upper slopes of Balfour were scoured by the recent wind event, with few cornices above the ascent route.

On Feb 17 we saw a recent size 2 avalanche below a cornice on a south aspect of Mt Gordon, probably as a result of strong north winds on Saturday. We also saw plenty of fresh debris below cornices on east aspects in the Sherbrooke valley today, Feb 18. Lastly, we saw a large avalanche on a south aspect below a cliff band in the Dolomite Peak area on the drive back to Bow today. Solar radiation was strong on south aspects today.

We were fairly conservative in our terrain selection this trip due to recent avalanche activity. We used the upper bench start to Balfour hi col (starting at the north end of the moraines) and dropped to the lower bench half way, to avoid the steep slopes on the direct approach through the moraines. Traversing below Niles today we dropped down to about 8100 ft from the Niles-Daly col, this is just above the first steep slopes on the classic exit. Then we skinned up a short, moderate moraine slope to regain the Schiesser-Lomas exit. This avoided most of the exposure from the upper slopes and cornices of Niles that you are subject to if you take a high traverse from the N/D col.

We had localized whumpfing in the moraines below Niles today, but nothing up on the icefield and in the trees in Sherbrooke the snow felt quite supportive, although I'm sure we have a few layers of concern in that terrain as well.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

Sunday, February 17, 2008

[MCR] Hydrophobia

Hydrophobia is in great shape right now with 2 solid WI5 pitches in the middle. The ice, for the most part, was very good with only a few spots of rotten ice lenses. Pretty much solid gear the whole way although we did need to excavate a rather large hole through bad ice at the top of the route for our first v thread. The sun is hitting the top third of the route on clear days now for the first 3 or 4 hours of the morning so the conditions will be changing.

The drive in was quite resonable as we were able to drive past the bog to the drainage at the mouth of the Hydro basin in a stock Toyota Tacoma. Both creek crossings were no issue as they were frozen solid. It snowed up to 10cms in the area during the day so we needed to put chains on to get back out. It was a good thing we had them because we would have spent the night on the bog if we hadn't... always entertaining climbing in Waiporous....

Have a fun and safe weekend!

Mike Stuart
ACMG Alpine Guide

Friday, February 15, 2008

[MCR] Purcells, International Basin, Feb 11-14

Report for Feb 11-14 in the International Basin hut (Mark Kingsbury Hut) at
the headwaters of Bobbie Burns creek, Purcells.

Flying in on Feb 11th Monday observed evidence of natural avalanche cycle
likely occuring on Sunday Feb 10th running on Jan 26 interface.

Feb 11th Monday, test profile at 2250m, South aspect above the hut revealed
200cm snowpack with compression test moderate sudden planar on Jan 26
interface 43cm down.

Stormed Feb 11th to 12th bringing approximately 30cm of snow and strong
Westerly winds switching to Northerly. Isolated natural avalanches size 2
observed on the 13th either initiating under steep rocks or from cornice
failure on a variety of aspects running on the Jan 26 interface.

Temperatures for the 4 days ranged from -8 to -1 degrees Celsius. After the
storm on Feb 11th-12th, Jan 26th interface is approximately 70cm down and
it was snowing as we flew out on 14th. The glacier to the
Battlement-Sandiland col had average 3+m snowpack.

Garth Lemke
Public Safety Warden
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide

Garde de parc, Sécurité publique
Guide de ski auxiliaire, Association des guides de montagne canadiens

Jasper National Park of Canada | Parc national du Canada Jasper
Parks Canada | Parcs Canada
P.O. Box 10, Jasper AB T0E 1E0 | C.P. 10, Jasper (Alberta) T0E 1E0
Garth.Lemke@pc.gc.ca
Telephone | Téléphone 780-852-6158
Facsimile | Télécopieur 780-852-6138
Cellular Phone | Téléphone cellulaire 780-852-8811
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
www.pc.gc.ca/jasper

Think GREEN! Please don't print this email unless you really need to.
Soyez ÉCOLO! N'imprimez ce courriel que si vous devez vraiment le faire.

_______________________________________________
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.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

[MCR] Guides Needed

I am in need of two assistant guides or ski guides for the dates of
23-29 of Feb, arriving on the evening of the 22nd.
I can reached via cliff@tlhheli.com

Cliff Umpleby

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

[MCR] Arterial Spurt

Feb 11, the route is still there, but thinning in from the edges. 10
and 12 cm screws more useful on the bottom pitches than mid length
screws.

Winds flipping between strong upslope and downslope gusts most of the
day, calmer in the pm. There are new snow slabs aproning the
rockbands and steeper pitches. A slab avalanche ran over the climb
sometime in the last 10 days? hard to tell as the debris is drifted
in, but there are old slab chunks sitting on top of the climb.

Approached in bootsoles.

Happy trails

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
_______________________________________________
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.

Monday, February 11, 2008

[MCR] Rockies - Crowfoot trees

In Crowfoot Trees today, Feb 11.

Snowpack depth was variable but in the 240 cm range where I probed at treeline. A supportive mid-pack but a sudden planar shear on the Jan 26 layer 60 cm from the surface. At the location I looked the layer was a distinct 4F weakness between harder layers, about 3 cm thick.

Windloading was evident on the ridges above and several avalanches size 2-2.5 were observed, often involving large chunks of cornice. Some slabs were triggered on the fans below the cliffs. Although it didn't seem like the debris was running past the bottom of the fans, one avalanche did dust a ski line.

The largest cornice in the area did not budge today...

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Rockies Dolomite Peak area

I was skeptical about conditions up the icefields parkway after hearing
reports of 80cm ski pens in facets at Bow Summit, but we were able to find
some great skiing yesterday (Feb 10). Near the highway we found 15cm of
fist density storm snow over 15cm of 1 finger density snow and extensive
faceting beneath. Off the trail we were punching through at lower
elevations, but the snowpack was mostly supportive above about 2100m.
Visibility was fairly limited, but we did see one massive cornice
overhanging a SE aspect and some pretty extensive windscoured slopes in the
alpine. We were able to find good skiing on a more sheltered feature. The
storm snow provided nice powder turns on a mostly supportive upper midpack
although a light touch was required to prevent breaking through in the
thinner areas. No signs of recent avalanche activity but we stayed clear of
slopes steep enough to slide. Another 3cms or so fell throughout the day
under fairly calm skies.

Cheers,
Shaun King
Alpine Guide & Asst. Ski Guide
_______________________________________________
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.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

[MCR] Mt Field

We skied on the NE side of Mt Field today, to just below the last trees on the first avalanche path you come across when skiing up the Takakkaw road.

On the initial slopes there was about 135 cm of snow, but just over a meter of snow on top of the alders. At 1750 m we got a sudden planar shear about 75 cm from the surface, on mature facets of 4F resistance below a 1F slab. So that nixed the thought of traversing to and skiing one of the steeper avalanche tracks that run through the trees at that elevation a bit further up the valley.

We continued up the low angle terrain of the path to 2075 m. Didn't do much in the way of snowpack investigation here but there was significantly more snow, about 2 m. The mid pack was supportive, with about 20 cm of recent storm snow on top.

With the critical inputs of the above mentioned sudden planar shear, a rapid spike in temperature to -1 C and wind loading at ridgetops, we elected to give the large and steep upper slopes a wide berth and skied down from this elevation.

Excellent skiing!

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Howsons 10 Feb 08

The last week was one of the coldest and snowiest I have observed in the
Howsons, but the skiing was excellent, with no less than 1200 m skied
every day. On Friday, the winds were moderate to strong from the NW with
steady snowfall. The temperatures dropped to -21C. The wind reversed
direction Friday night, but the snowfall and low temperatures persisted
until noon on Sunday. There were 40 cm of snow on the storm board by the
end of the week. It snowed much more, but much of that had been blown away.

A test profile at 1650 m in a wind exposed area, W aspect, showed about
50 cm of storm snow over last week. There were several sudden planar
moderate to hard shears on decomposing and fragmented grains in the
storm snow. There is a crust/ facet layer 100 cm down that is producing
hard sudden planar shears. There was some whumpfing in glades below
treeline. Ski cutting produced no results.

Our avalanche observations were mostly acoustic as the visibility was
poor throughout the week. Several size 2 and 3 came off the Hut Cliffs
and Polemic Glacier through the week.

Today, as we saw the sun for the first time all week, we observed one
size 3 natural slab in a south aspect on Hut Peak and several natural
size 2 slabs, some triggered by cornice falls, on the flight out in the
Telkwa Range.

[MCR] SnowLine

The trail:
Quite good having followed 3 climbers but much better on the way out. Judging by the number of vehicles in the Evan Thomas Parking at 15:00 the trail compaction likely extends also to the Rehab Wall.

Snowline:
The first 50 meters are quite worn down by travel.
One section just past the 2 bolt anchor is actually stacked blocks. Overall easy climbing but very poor quality ice for protection, don't pull too much and don't swing into a "virgin" ice at the crux.

Past 50m and to the very top, the ice was dry, Likely to become wet, takes good screws is not as fractured with fewer pockets.

Moonlight was thin at first but looked better overall.

Moon light, Snowline and too Low for Zero all received travel today so most of the snow that covered the lines in the morning has been cleared.

Cheers
Pat Delaney
AAG Yamnuska

[MCR] Kicking horse backcountry

Skied from kicking horse the last 2 days, both days went North to the Molar area. Noticed lots of wind slabs on N and NE aspects. Today I saw 1 size 2, wasn’t there yesterday, off the lower ridge of the ozone NE aspect, 1800m. 20 to 70 deep, 200m wide and 150m long. Also felt some settlements in the snow pack. I skied fairly conservative lines and used the terrain to minimize our exposure. I felt like it would be easy to trigger slides on the big lines that we often ski out there so heads up. The Jan 26 facets are down roughly 50 to 70cm’s and I was getting moderate results. The top 20 was easily ski triggered and was propagating but not running far where I was testing. Great skiing out there but my confidence was low for any of the big lines.

Cheers

Todd Craig, Mtn Guide

[MCR] Line left of the Upper Weeping Wall

The pillar on the Dave Marra line left of the Upper Weeping Wall
(Master of Hobbits?) has fallen off, so has the pillar on Tales of
Ordinary Madness, but that was some time ago.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

[MCR] Kootenay Park - Vermillion Peak Burn

I followed Dr. Jeff's footsteps today (more precisely his studly uptrack) in the burn climbers right of the Vermillion Peak slide path. Previous day and overnight winds had created some windeffect above 1800 meters, namely along the rib that one uses to climb. While I was forewarned by the avalanches that Jeff had kicked off yesterday, I was nevertheless surprised that I managed to trigger a small Sz 2 slab remotely (3 meters) on a 35ish degree glade at 1900m before I could even attempt to ski-cut it. The slab was 30cm thick, 30m wide and ran for 30m on facets sz 1 (likely the January 27 interface?). Keep in mind that this instability will stick with us for a while unless the warming trend that is to be exepcted (hopefully) soon or additional load (new snow) will cause it to release naturally.

Skiing was good, however in the lower elevations the snowpack was not always relyably supportive anymore......

Cheers,

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide (ACMG / IFMGA / VDBS)

1-800 506-7177 or (001) 403 678 2717

www.ontopmountaineering.com

[MCR] Haffner Creek Moose / Marble Canyon Ice (Feb 8 +9)

Haffner Creek, Kootenay National Park, Canadian Rockies (Feb 8+9)

I just got shut down at Haffner Creek two days in a row by, of all
things, a moose. Let me expand: A big 1500 lb female swamp donkey!
Yesterday, I was walking in at about 9:30 and it was blocking the
trail. I've heard too many stories of angry charging moose so we
retreated to Grotto Canyon. Went back today and Bullwinkle was still
blocking the trail munching on branches. We tried deeking around but
the post-holing off the packed trail was stomach deep. Retreated once
again, this time to Marble Canyon. Maybe we could have strolled by her
but I wasn't willing to risk checking to see. Big animal, real big.

The ice in Marble Canyon is very dry and brittle. Experienced lots of
stress fracturing on Marble Arch (WI4) so we ran away after one top-
rope lap. I wouldn't want to lead it. The lower third of Tokumm Pole
(WI5+) has fallen off into the water at some point in the not-so-
distant past. Due to the cold ice down there and the funky pillar-
nature of these routes, I would think they can be quit fragile in the
right (or should I say wrong) conditions.

Sean Isaac
Assistant Alpine Guide

[MCR] Valhallas Ice Creek Lodge Feb 1-8

Skied February 1 – 8 at Ice Creek Lodge, located near the NW boundary of Valhalla Provincial Park, approximately 45kms south of Nakusp.

We arrived to 40 cms of snow on top of the jan 26^th interface of surface hoar ( SH ), facets (FCs ) and buried wind affected snow. Snowpack tests showed two consistent moderate resistant planar shears, down 30 and 40cms. The jan 26^th SH was hard to distinguish in most test locations, being mixed in with the FCs below and preserved stellars above. No results from ski cutting, or by scrubbing from many loose natural sluffs that came out of steep terrain up to size 1.5 . Of note is that much of the buried SH was reported to have formed needle shaped in this area, suspect this accounts in part for its lack of reactivity early on. We did find the classic striated blade form of SH in boulder fields, and here it was very reactive, cracking remotely off mushrooms, up to 10m away from a passing skier.

The first few days were clear calm and cold, and needled SH developed above 2100m, size 2 – 4mm. A thin suncrust ( SC ) formed on steep south aspects.

The second half of the week saw 35cm of new snow, with moderate to strong winds from the SE, then SW. Widespread softslab ( SSL ) development at treeline ( TL ) and alpine ( ALP ), and intense loading at ridgetops. Daytime high temps –8 deg. We avoided the ALP then, due to obvious stability and visibility limitations. Avoiding slab in the TL zone, good skiing. Snow depth 220cm at 2000m.

Yesterday winds were blowing really hard up high, and swinging around from all directions at TL. Lots of transport of the remaining loose snow. Choppering out I saw the first natural slab activity of the week, 50cm deep, from high lee features, running down narrow gullies to the valley floor.

Certainly the new snow loading and wind, and a forecast of more with rising temps has raised the avalanche danger. We may now also see action on the 26^th interface at Ice Creek, as this area is now receiving the threshold load levels that other areas have been experiencing.

Be Good,

Joel McBurney, SG

Nelson, BC

[MCR] Weeping Wall Feb 8

Climbed the Left side of the Weeping Wall yesterday, busy day with
5-6 parties climbing on the wall. Seems that everyone got along and
kept spaced out on different lines, this was accomplished through
communication, ie: talking with the other parties and agreeing where
to climb = safer for all.

Pleasant temps in the am, cooler when we got to the truck. 10 cm? of
snow on the road at Bow Summit, poor driving conditions on the 93
from Lake Louise to Mt Patterson, better after that northwards.

Happy trails

Friday, February 8, 2008

[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Dome Glacier - Feb.7-08

Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Dome Glacier - Feb.7-08

I was up the Asulkan Valley to the Dome Glacier yesterday. A fairly quiet day skier wise (I only saw the Asst. Guides in Training doing their thing in the same area) with mixed bag of weather – generally cloudy with light snow and light winds throughout the day but with the occasional well timed sunny break that seemed to coincide with our ski descents (lucky us).

Did some Compression Tests just before climbing into the trees before the Mousetrap (the route that avoids going through the Mousetrap) and found the Jan.26 interface down @ 60 cm. – here it was a mix of small faceted grains and spike like surface hoar that was maybe 5mm. long. Compression tests showed a sudden planar failure on this interface that initiated once we were in the hard range of the test – still not confidence inspiring and it definitely helped to decide where we would not go on our way down to the valley bottom.

In the Alpine we found no surface hoar but rather old soft and hard windslabs under the recent 30-45 cm. of storm snow – the top 10 cm. that had fallen the night before was denser than that below it (4Finger over Fist) and at the upper ridgecrest it formed a stiffer slab that varied between 10-30cm. thick – we turned back short of the Dome Col to avoid dealing with the last steep wind affected slope. Once we skied off the ridge crest there was no more wind effect noticeable.

No avalanches observed but visibility was limited – ski cutting did not produce any results except on snow mushrooms at valley bottom where we could ski cut slabs down to the Jan.26 interface.

On my last post from Monday regarding the Swiss Galcier/Tupper area I forgot to highlight the prescence of suncrust on steep solar (southerly) aspects – these buried suncrusts are still a major concern for me.

Since yesterday the temps have climbed and the Pass saw a further 20-30cm. of snow overnight with winds in excess of 120kph at the MacDonald Shoulder wind site (it is a pretty windy place at best of time but this is significant wind) – soooo I am sure that things have changed – but not to worry the highway is closed for the day so you can’t get there anyway – but when you do this weekend – tread lightly.

Cheers,

Scott Davis

Mountain Guide

Thursday, February 7, 2008

[MCR] Bow Hut - Wapta - Mt. Olive

Climbed Mt. Olive today with an overnight at Bow Hut. Two days of intense westerly winds caused lots of snow being transported in all open areas - especially yesterday! Only question is where the snow was being deposited as most easterly aspects seemed also stripped or at least punched by the downflowing winds. Main concern where a couple of spots where a hard wind slab was sitting on one or several faceted layers of lower density snow, namely the short but steep morrainal slope right underneath the Bow Hut. We avoided it by carrying our skis up a steep morrainal rib just to the right of it, which required some sure-footedness.

Other than that, the "Canyon" is easy to travel and the coverage on the glacier appeared good for early season.

Cheers,

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide (ACMG / IFMGA / VDBS)

1-800 506-7177 or (001) 403 678 2717

www.ontopmountaineering.com

[MCR] Howsons 7 Feb 08

A day of very strong southerly winds and heavy snowfall. We skied the
Solitaire Ski Peak in very strong winds, but equally good skiing.
Several large avalanches ran off Hut Peak and Polemic Glacier. There is
a crust/ facet layer 90 cm down that produces sudden planar shears. Ski
cutting did not produce much in the way of propagation, but the load is
growing rapidly. 12 cm of new snow this morning and another 12 tonight,
but probably much more was blown away.

[MCR] Howsons 7 Feb 08

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

[MCR] Bow Summit Skiing

Lonesome day with our group of three at Bow Summit today. Skiing quality was still good with boot-top powder in the usual ski lines where wind protected, but the standard lines are getting a bit tracked up now. Height of snow varied between 100 - 150 cm in sheltered locations around tree line. In the trees, foot penetration is well 80cm which accounts for almost the entire snowpack - always a good eye-opener for someone who just returned from two weeks of skiing in the Interior Ranges. Of note where the winds: Strong westerly winds moved a lot of snow around but only at ridge tops during the first part of the day. By the time we left the area at 4PM, the winds were blowing strong even at valley bottom, which will likely move a lot of the snow that made the skiing nice today into fat windslabs over a generally weak, facetted snowpack.

Happy trails and stay safe out there!

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide (ACMG / IFMGA / UIAGM)

1-800 506-7177 or (001) 403 678 2717

www.ontopmountaineering.com

Monday, February 4, 2008

[MCR] Howsons 4 Feb 08

Skied Solitaire Ski Peak today. -10 at the lodge in the morning, -13 on
the summit at noon. There was a large wind event on 15 January that
stripped the faceted snowpack off many exposed areas. Many more
krummholz trees and rocks showing now than in mid-January. We saw
several fracture lines from slabs that probably released with that wind
event. We saw no new avalanches and there was no cracking and whumpfing.
We found a hard, but sudden planar shear 47 cm down on a crust/ facet
layer. The wind was moderate from the NE. In the afternoon, it started
snowing a bit more heavily. 163 cm at the lodge, more than 300 in the
alpine. Good skiing.

Friday, February 1, 2008

[MCR] Rockies - HWY 93 North - Hector Lake Area

Hello,

Ski toured in the Hector Lake area today. Of note was the numerous witnessed cornice releases which in some cases were quite large. The cornices however did not trigger any of the fans below. Also, at tree line many convex features with the right angle had slid naturally down about 30cm. On the up side, the skiing was good.....we just kept it to lower angled terrain with no overhead hazard.

Enjoy the turns!

Jesse de Montigny

ACMG Ski Guide

ACMG Assistant Alpine Guide

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