Selkirk Mountains -
I was up the
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