Happy New Year!
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
Thursday, December 31, 2009
[MCR] Bourgeau Right Hand
Climbed Bourgeau Right Hand today, Dec 31st. The climb is in decent shape for Bourgeau RH. It is narrow with a lot of hollow ice on the edges. I was glad to have a couple of 12cm screws plus one stubbie for the first couple of pitches. Flurries resulted in a couple of centimeters of powder snow there today, no wind to speak of as high as the top of the climb. Good trail leading to the route.
[MCR] Hankin Mountain
Today I checked out the new Hankin Mountain skiing area in the
Kitseguecla drainage. I could not see it all as the visibility was
limited. I could see no avalanche debris in the fading light. The main
risk right now is hitting stumps, rocks and logs as the snowpack is
still shallow this side of the Coast Mountains. At treeline (1300 m)
there were only 110 cm of snow. Most of that is facetted and there is a
layer of surface hoar 37 cm down. This surface hoar is old, but well
visible and a good 3 mm large. It produced moderate sudden planar
shears. It is rare for our area to show surface hoar in the alpine, but
it was sunny and cold for quite a while this winter. It would be good to
investigate the extent of this layer and to be wary of it at least near
treeline. It is now getting just the right amount of load to fail and
allow slab avalanches.
Kitseguecla drainage. I could not see it all as the visibility was
limited. I could see no avalanche debris in the fading light. The main
risk right now is hitting stumps, rocks and logs as the snowpack is
still shallow this side of the Coast Mountains. At treeline (1300 m)
there were only 110 cm of snow. Most of that is facetted and there is a
layer of surface hoar 37 cm down. This surface hoar is old, but well
visible and a good 3 mm large. It produced moderate sudden planar
shears. It is rare for our area to show surface hoar in the alpine, but
it was sunny and cold for quite a while this winter. It would be good to
investigate the extent of this layer and to be wary of it at least near
treeline. It is now getting just the right amount of load to fail and
allow slab avalanches.
--
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.
[MCR] Coast Range ~ Miller Creek & The Spearhead Range
Happy New Year.
I spent the past two days skiing a variety of terrain in mostly alpine and treeline country.
Generally, the wide open north-facing glaciers had a good deal of wind and temperature effect from last week's warmer weather at those elevations. With the shift to cooler weather lately, the previously warmer surfaces on south aspects (alpine-treeline) have now become refrozen to form into a hard, crust layer and most of these surfaces are now being buried by new snow. Some relatively sheltered north north-west facing alpine terrain offered some pretty good skiing yesterday in softer sugary (faceted) snow.
The best skiing has been true north-facing terrain at treeline and below treeline. Some terrain features in upper treeline areas have accentuated recent wind effects and, with the new snow to 'buff-up' the surface, it can be challenging to see the differences/changes in snow texture. In open treeline locations and on the backside of steeper rolling terrain, and in gully features, the previous winds have hardened the surfaces there. Essentially, the snow can feel quite variable underfoot (going from soft to hard/very hard to soft again) until you reach that magical elevation at around 6000' (1825m) where the snow becomes softer and more skiable.
Ski quality below treeline and in the trees on north-facing terrain has been quite good. Be careful, as you ski, of refrozen tree bombs/chunks that have landed in some spots around tree bases.
Testing of the snow in one sheltered treeline area revealed no significant results in the top 80cm of the snowpack. As the current sugary snow surface becomes buried, in these locations, we'll likely see a return to some instability.
Crevasses seem to feel reasonably bridged/covered in some locations but many still appear 'saggy' and some are still open.
Wishing Everyone safe travels in the New Year....
Cheers,
Dale Marcoux
Asst. Ski Guide
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
I spent the past two days skiing a variety of terrain in mostly alpine and treeline country.
Generally, the wide open north-facing glaciers had a good deal of wind and temperature effect from last week's warmer weather at those elevations. With the shift to cooler weather lately, the previously warmer surfaces on south aspects (alpine-treeline) have now become refrozen to form into a hard, crust layer and most of these surfaces are now being buried by new snow. Some relatively sheltered north north-west facing alpine terrain offered some pretty good skiing yesterday in softer sugary (faceted) snow.
The best skiing has been true north-facing terrain at treeline and below treeline. Some terrain features in upper treeline areas have accentuated recent wind effects and, with the new snow to 'buff-up' the surface, it can be challenging to see the differences/changes in snow texture. In open treeline locations and on the backside of steeper rolling terrain, and in gully features, the previous winds have hardened the surfaces there. Essentially, the snow can feel quite variable underfoot (going from soft to hard/very hard to soft again) until you reach that magical elevation at around 6000' (1825m) where the snow becomes softer and more skiable.
Ski quality below treeline and in the trees on north-facing terrain has been quite good. Be careful, as you ski, of refrozen tree bombs/chunks that have landed in some spots around tree bases.
Testing of the snow in one sheltered treeline area revealed no significant results in the top 80cm of the snowpack. As the current sugary snow surface becomes buried, in these locations, we'll likely see a return to some instability.
Crevasses seem to feel reasonably bridged/covered in some locations but many still appear 'saggy' and some are still open.
Wishing Everyone safe travels in the New Year....
Cheers,
Dale Marcoux
Asst. Ski Guide
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
[MCR] Bourgeau Left Hand
Climbed Bourgeau Left Hand today, Dec 30th. The climb is a half grade stiffer than often, true grade 5? This is because the last 30 meters, the crux, has to be climbed in the centre because the climb is not filled out and offering easier options to the right.
Eric Dumerac's new anchors on top, and 57 meters down from the top, muchly appreciated. Note, that in Eric's MCR post of Dec 28th, and with regards to his new route "Toishi" -"Climb first pitch of Bourgeau left and traverse 60 meters to the right", most parties would consider this the first two pitches of Bourgeau LH.
Happy trails
Barry Blanchard
UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide
1 403 609 4615
cell 1 403 609 1321
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
[MCR] Cascade-Rogan's Gully enchainment
Climbed Cascade Falls today, Dec 29th. Two other parties below us, seemed to benefit all to communicate and coordinate. It was good to have some climbers stop climbing for minutes so that others could clear out from underneath.
We rappeled into Rogan's Gully from the Cascade descent -the one that weaves down through the trees between the two climbs. We climbed the upper half of Rogan's then descended. The 'Narrows" of Rogan's has matured to a proper ice climb in the three weeks since I was there last.
Happy trails
Barry Blanchard
UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide
1 403 609 4615
cell 1 403 609 1321
[MCR] Avalanche Control Mt. Bourgeau
I would like to clarify the avalanche control strategies and restrictions
for Bourgeau Left hand and Right hand.
for Bourgeau Left hand and Right hand.
Parks Canada only does avalanche control control on avalanche paths that
affect roads.
Bourgeau Left Hand is not one of those paths and does NOT get
controlled (contrary to what is stated in early editions of the
guidebook)
Bourgeau Right Hand very rarely affects the parking lot and therefore
very occasionally gets control.
Avalanche control in the area can easily cause sympathetic avalanches
on Bourgeau Left Hand and Bourgeau Right Hand. A sympathetic avalanche
is one that occurs when another avalanche is triggered on a nearby path.
For this reason, Parks Canada closes those two ice routes to climbing
when avalanche control is planned.
Marc Ledwidge
Manager, Mountain Safety Programs
Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks
220 Hawk Avenue
Box 900, Banff, AB
T1L 1K2
Ph: 403-762-1401
_______________________________________________
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.
[MCR] South Coast Mountains, Spearhead.
Was guiding off Blackcomb for the past couple of days.
Yesterday skied to Tremor Mt over a variety of surfaces. Today was beyond the ropes at Blackomb.
Saw no new avalanches. Skied steeper stuff like the NW side of Pattison- most stuff was hit by the millions of monkeys with no results.
Many crevasses still stand out as sags but seem to be well filled with strong bridges.
The South Aspects had been cooked days ago and are now a nasty crust from 2400m down to near valley bottom.
North Aspects were somewhat wind effected at ridge top but a lot of the surface snow was facetted and made for great skiing. In more sheltered locations Surface Hoar was growing. From 1300m down a rain crust is buried by a up to20cm of facets and Surface Hoar. Good skiing where the crust supportive. The past inversion preserved the snow cover throughout many valleys
It started snowing lightly at 1:30 pm today in the alpine. The Avalanche Hazard- till this PM- was Moderate/Low all aspects at the elevations I visited 1200m – 2400m.
Dave Sarkany
SG
Monday, December 28, 2009
[MCR] Bataan rock climbing
Bare chested climbing at Bataan today. We easily broke trail - not too slippery- some boots and poles and its good to go. Awesome- sun leaves the lower cliff cliff and middle cliff at about 3:30 quarter to 4.
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
Eric Dumerac- IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
igbguides.com
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
[MCR] Coire Dubh
Climbed Coire Dubh today, Dec 28th. The climb is in good shape. I didn't find, or see, enough snow to make an avalanche anywhere.
Happy trails
Barry Blanchard
UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide
1 403 609 4615
cell 1 403 609 1321
Sunday, December 27, 2009
[MCR] Selkirk Mountains, Whitewater Ski area backcountry
I spent yesterday and today in the Whitewater 'slack-country'. Skied a
couple of lines into the Kutetl drainage, east side of Ymir Mountain
'behind' the ski area and a couple into the Five-Mile drainage to the
north east of the ski area. The big feature of the last few days has
been the temperature inversion. Although upper level temperatures
haven't reached the freezing level yet, they were coming close today.
Yesterday, the temperatures were steady around -3, today they were
closer to -1. The south western slopes are being trashed by the
afternoon sun forming a 1-2cm sun crust. Snow melting off the trees has
formed thick ice crusts around the tree wells on this aspect as well.
We managed to ski down these slopes back to the ski area before the sun
went down and everything froze up, so the skiing wasn't too bad.
couple of lines into the Kutetl drainage, east side of Ymir Mountain
'behind' the ski area and a couple into the Five-Mile drainage to the
north east of the ski area. The big feature of the last few days has
been the temperature inversion. Although upper level temperatures
haven't reached the freezing level yet, they were coming close today.
Yesterday, the temperatures were steady around -3, today they were
closer to -1. The south western slopes are being trashed by the
afternoon sun forming a 1-2cm sun crust. Snow melting off the trees has
formed thick ice crusts around the tree wells on this aspect as well.
We managed to ski down these slopes back to the ski area before the sun
went down and everything froze up, so the skiing wasn't too bad.
Another feature of the last few days is surface hoar growth. In
sheltered and shaded areas below 2000m the crystals are reaching about
20-25mm in size. This surface hoar and the sun crusts could be a
concern when we get some more snow.
The ridge-top winds, which were moderate from the south east at 2200m
yesterday, moved down slope overnight. This change stiffened the snow a
bit into a thin wind slab on north west aspects, but affected the ski
quality only slightly.
There were a number of avalanche crowns observed on various aspects.
These had run since the last snowfall, but I couldn't tell what layer
they had run on. Perhaps the Dec 12 facet layer. The hand shears I did
yesterday near the ridge tops where in the moderate to hard range,
failing on a facet layer (Dec 12?). There wasn't much snow on top of
this layer (20-25cm) in the areas I tested, probably blown off by the wind.
One thing to note are the tree bombs. The snow is still hanging in the
trees, and getting denser. These things are getting heavy, so we
avoided contact with trees to keep from knocking the bombs on us.
Despite the apparent good stability, we still skied cautiously. We
minimized our time on steep open slopes, avoided convex rolls and skied
one at a time to islands of safety. In all, we had some excellent skiing.
Play safe and have fun.
Craig Hollinger,
ACMG Assistant 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.
[MCR] Lake Louise ski area backcountry
Skied north of the Lake Louise ski area today, up Richardson's Ridge down Hidden Bowl and out via the Corral Creek slidepath.
Unlimited Disk, Data Transfer, PHP/MySQL Domain Hosting
http://www.doteasy.com
Beautiful day with the inversion keeping it nice and warm up high - no wind. South and west facing slopes were suncrust and would be poor skiing, but I was surprised to find good powder skiing on north and east facing terrain above treeline. The north facing terrain had about 100 cm of total snowdepth at 2500 m. Profile in an open alpine bowl gave moderate shears down about 40cm but no failures on the ground with less depth hoar than normal. The good skiing resulted from soft facets on the surface of the snowpack, topped off with a growing layer of surface hoar - weaving a careful line between the wind hammered areas!
Great day where I was and nice to be done by 1pm. Good message from Marc Ledwidge for ice climbers to watch out for south/west facing gullies and big slopes overhead. I saw plenty of loose snow avalanches running in the sun and near rocks today. Stay in the shade!
Grant Statham
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________________Unlimited Disk, Data Transfer, PHP/MySQL Domain Hosting
http://www.doteasy.com
[MCR] Temperature inversion Rockies
There is a significant temperature inversion that ice climbers need to pay
attention to. Although valley bottom temperatures are -15 to -20, at ridge
top, temperatures during the day have gone above freezing. At midnight it
was -1 on the summit of Bourgeau and +2 by 11:00 am. This is a serious
consideration for all ice routes with start zones above them especially on
southerly aspects. This inversion is forecasted to continue for at least
one more day.
attention to. Although valley bottom temperatures are -15 to -20, at ridge
top, temperatures during the day have gone above freezing. At midnight it
was -1 on the summit of Bourgeau and +2 by 11:00 am. This is a serious
consideration for all ice routes with start zones above them especially on
southerly aspects. This inversion is forecasted to continue for at least
one more day.
Marc Ledwidge
Manager, Mountain Safety Programs
Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks
220 Hawk Avenue
Box 900, Banff, AB
T1L 1K2
Ph: 403-762-1401
_______________________________________________
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.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
[MCR] Kid Falls
Guided Kid Fall and found it in excellent condition. I believe we were the first ones this year. From the slung boulder on the left at the top it takes two rappels to reach the ground- We reset the mid station. The upper pillar is sporty but all there. I prefer the approach we chose to the one in the guidebook. After the swing bridge, continue up the Galatea trail, left at the signs, until the trail reaches a height of land perfect for traversing to the drainage. Here the forest is open and gladed- it will bring you to the drainage which is crossed just left of a small iceflow via a bench and landmark pine tree to broach the cliff band. Follow a ridge feature then trim line to the route. This approach gains elevation on a packed trail quickly as well as traverses in and up at a comfortable angle. Happy Ice,
Eric Dumerac- IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. See the Windows 7 offers now.
[MCR] Rohr Ridge
We skied up the W ridge of Rohr last Friday and down the south side on slide path 69.2 traversing into the chute from the W at a lower elevation than the start zone. The important theme of the day was intense radiation; some minor loose snow avalanches were observed from under rocky features on solar aspects. Moist snow on most terrain over 30 degrees on these aspects will be crusty tomorrow. Better quality skiing was found on less steep terrain but the snow had absorbed much heat and below 5000' formed a 1 cm crust from the warm temperatures.
A profile at about 6900' near ridgeline (HS = 250) on a SSW aspect showed relatively ugly snowpack characteristics with 2 crust/facet interfaces, one down 65 cm and another down 100 cm. The faceted layers although not thick are low density and weak. Tests however produced results in the moderate-hard range including a Rutschblock 5 on the interface down 65, all shears being resistant planar or sticky. No results on the 1 cm rc down 100. Ski cutting steep features produced no results.
Tim Pochay
MG
Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
[MCR] Marriott 091221-22
Spent the past few days on the Duffey at the Wendy Thompson Hut. Conditions continued to improve as time went on, although the vigorous warm storm that smacked the Whistler area did not make it through the blocker into the basin, which was very good news indeed.
On 091220, Cerise was getting patches of rain according to some reports, but these did not penetrate into Marriott above the headwall. Consequently, there was a reasonable amount of lower density storm snow, accumulating to an average 47cm over the two-and-a-half day storm. From 5500ft up, this was right-side up for the most part, and the nearest crust to the surface was normally about 80cm down. Total snowpack in the basin ranged from 240-275cm and everything was quite fully filled-in.
Throughout the majority of the storm, we stayed on low-angled terrain. Compression tests were giving easy results, with occasional failures in the storm snow on cutting the blocks. The interface between the initial cold snow and the rapidly warming second front seemed to be the culprit, and failed regularly in the first couple of taps to a depth of from 32-28cm down.
Facetted grains over the 091128 crust were stiffening up, but still responding with good "pops," usually in the "hard" range. The fact that this layer was down about 74-82cm gave us some concern and we stayed away from any steeper slopes. Overnight on the 21st, temps dropped to -15C and the upper snowpack responded by tightening up noticeably. While still giving sudden planar results on easy compression tests, it was taking significantly more taps to get results.
There was no change in results on the facets above and below the 091130cr however. Extended column tests on the 22nd were all without results. For this reason, we did not test steeper slopes.
It is apparent that a widespread cycle ran through the region mid-week last week when that storm cycle pulled through. Even a few of the glide avalanches on south-facing slopes at about 7000ft. had failed catastrophically. Some loose slides in the latter portions of the storm pulled out slabs to Sz2. With the excellent vis on the 22nd, we were able to see one loose snow avalanche initiated naturally from steep ground that had caused a slab failure lower on the slope during the last hours of the storm on the 21st. In addition, one cornice failure at 7600 had caused a Sz2 when it impacted steep wind-loaded terrain below.
Skiing quality was quite good on the 22nd, with much-improved vis and stability and less ski penetration which made for easier tracksetting.
M. Sulkers
ACMG Hiking Guide
Professional member CAA
[MCR] Selkirk Mountains, Whitewater Ski area, White Queen
Another quick trip up White Queen under mostly bluebird skies. Some
high cloud did move in later in the day along with some valley fog. The
temperature was steady around -15C, colder in shaded valleys. The wind
was calm for the day until I reached the summit (2200m) where it was
light from the west.
high cloud did move in later in the day along with some valley fog. The
temperature was steady around -15C, colder in shaded valleys. The wind
was calm for the day until I reached the summit (2200m) where it was
light from the west.
I saw no evidence of wind slab or recent avalanche activity, but
surface hoar (4-6mm in size) was growing in the trees at around 1900m.
The snow depth was around 200cm in areas I checked above 1900m, about
125cm in the valley at 1450m. In the pit I dug at 2100m I found three
thin (5mm) ice crusts down 25, 33 and 58cm. The old faceted surface is
down about 78cm. The upper two crusts failed with moderate to hard
compression tests. These crusts will be something to keep an eye on in
the future.
The ski quality was excellent with ski penetration of about 20cm.
Coverage is good above about 1800m. Below that, I had to ski cautiously
around the usual christmas trees, stumps and fallen logs. The alder
lower down is partially covered, but skiing over it caused the stems to
spring back up. A moderate amount of sloughing occurred with aggressive
turns on steep (40*+) slopes.
Play safe out there.
Craig Hollinger
ACMG Assistant 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.
[MCR] Cascade waterfall
Climbed Cascade Waterfall today Dec 23/09. Plastic ice, one swing stick. There was 5 cm from yesterdays snow. The upper bowl was not affected by yesterdays wind. Descend the walk off route. Was in good shape.
Regards,
Marco Delesalle
Mountain Guide
Regards,
Marco Delesalle
Mountain Guide
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
[MCR] Bourgeau Left-Hand
Climbed Bourgeau Left-Hand today, Dec 22, with my fellow Mountain Guide, Eric Dumerac. The climb is in great shape. Good trail leading to it from the north end of the parking lot (behind the metal storage units) no need to climb the new retaining wall.
Bourgeau Right-Hand appears to be there, but you never really know how hard until you walk up to the first pitch. The first pitch is there.
Merry Christmas
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
Monday, December 21, 2009
[MCR] S. Selkirks near Nelson Dec 18 - 20
Spent the past three days skiing and digging profiles in the southern Selkirks, 15km north of Nelson.
The average snowpack depth at treeline ( 2000m + ) was about 175cm. Below 1500m elevation there are still alot of ground hazards poking through.
Temperatures were moderate in the -5 to -2 C range, and winds were light.
The only layer of note in the pack was a weak facet layer 40cm below the surface - a hangover from the week of arctic air in early december. This facet layer is up to 15cm thick, and in our snowpit tests usually produced rapid collapsing results, especially where it was overlaid by denser settled snow ( slab ). We felt numerous 'whumphs' in our travels, another sure sign of instability.
That being said, we managed to get excellent turns on supported, less committing terrain.
Today ( monday ) it is snowing in earnest again. The mountains around Nelson have recieved 20cm and counting since last night, so this new load will add stress to that buried weakness.
Be careful out there over the holidays,
Joel McBurney
ACMG SG
Nelson BC
Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you're up to on Facebook.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
[MCR] Coast Mountaints, Hope Creek, Snow and Avalanche conditions
Howdy,
We spent the last two days skiing up in the Hurley Pass area. This afternoon there was temperature spike and the freezing level went all the way up to about 1650m, with rain about 100m below that. Above 1800m the snow was light and nice, below was not.
Foot penetration was about 65 cm and ski penetration was about 40cm for most of the weekend. Yesterday things were quite stable but today with 30cm of new heavy snow everything started to slide. We had several naturals to size 2 around us and every little roll we skied popped out.
We ski cut things until about mid day knowing that it was only storm snow that was sliding, but after a couple slopes in different areas and aspects stepped down another 40-45cm to the Dec 14 layer, we backed off moved out of avalanche terrain for the rest of the day.
The slopes that stepped down were unsupported and quite steep (35+ deg) and at or below treeline. With another 20-30cm of snow forecasted for tonight I will really watch my step tomorrow.
Conny Amelunxen
MG
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. See the Windows 7 offers now.
We spent the last two days skiing up in the Hurley Pass area. This afternoon there was temperature spike and the freezing level went all the way up to about 1650m, with rain about 100m below that. Above 1800m the snow was light and nice, below was not.
Foot penetration was about 65 cm and ski penetration was about 40cm for most of the weekend. Yesterday things were quite stable but today with 30cm of new heavy snow everything started to slide. We had several naturals to size 2 around us and every little roll we skied popped out.
We ski cut things until about mid day knowing that it was only storm snow that was sliding, but after a couple slopes in different areas and aspects stepped down another 40-45cm to the Dec 14 layer, we backed off moved out of avalanche terrain for the rest of the day.
The slopes that stepped down were unsupported and quite steep (35+ deg) and at or below treeline. With another 20-30cm of snow forecasted for tonight I will really watch my step tomorrow.
Conny Amelunxen
MG
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. See the Windows 7 offers now.
[MCR] Avalanche Control on Mt. Bourgea Dec 21
Weather permitting, avalanche control will commence on the Bourgeau Slide
paths on the Sunshine Village road Monday Dec 21st, 2009. No ice climbing
or any other back-country activity in this area during this day. Thanks for
your understanding.
paths on the Sunshine Village road Monday Dec 21st, 2009. No ice climbing
or any other back-country activity in this area during this day. Thanks for
your understanding.
Aaron Beardmore
Specialist, Mountain Safety Programs
Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay Parks
Box 900, Banff, AB
T1L 1K2
Ph: 403-762-1415
www.parksmountainsafety.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.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
[MCR] Kananaskis Country Evans-Thomas Creek ice climbs
Climbed Moonlight, Snowline and Two Low for Zero today. All are in climbable shape. Snow line and Two Low are thin and though stubbies help, you still need a steady headspace for running it out on thin ice. A rock rack wasn't much help. Chantilly is fat too.
There is a new fork in the trail when you cross the creek. It looks like someone went wading and now there is a sketchy new variation. Good luck.
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
laristan@telus.net
[MCR] Selkirk Mountains, Slocan Ranges north of Meadow Mt. west of the Lardeau River
Spent the last four days cat skiing in the Lardeu River area just north
of the town of Meadow Creek.
of the town of Meadow Creek.
We skied an elevation range of 2200 to 1450m entirely on a NE aspect in
steep, treed terrain and through the occasional opening and clear cut.
The passing storms dumped approximately 50cm of increasing density snow
over the few cms of light fluff that was sitting on the Dec 9 faceted
(sugary snow) surface.
The daytime temperatures ranged from about -13 on Dec 15 to about -3 on
Dec 18. The increasing temperatures as the storm snow fell created an
'upside-down' snowpack (denser snow overlaying less dense snow) and
challenging skiing for the guests (and guides) on Wednesday. As the
snow settled (became more dense) with warming temperatures, the ski
quality improved over the week.
Ski-cutting steep rolls over boulders in open terrain on Tuesday
produced sloughs that ran up to 50m down slope gathering more snow as
they went. They left deep gouges in the snowpack down to the old Dec 9
surface. Occasionally the ski-cutting produced small slab releases
above the track. We suspected a buried surface hoar (large,
feather-like crystals) layer but could not find any until a day later
when the snow had become more cohesive and the blocks of slab could be
picked up and turned over. The surface hoar crystals were about 6mm in
size were laid down flat. The sloughing became less of a problem for
the rest of the week as the temperatures rose and the snow became more
dense.
We were concerned the warming temperatures and increasing snowfall would
produce larger slabs. This didn't pan out as we avoided steep convex
rolls in open terrain and the overall stability didn't deteriorate much
as the weak layers settled. We did though, have one skier initiated
release on Wednesday. The crack ran 50m along the top of an
un-travelled cat road cut-bank but didn't slide. There was a similar
crack along the lower bank of the same road we suspected released at the
same time. This certainly spooked us but we saw no other such activity
for the rest of the week.
Despite the early season, snow coverage was good, the depth ranged from
80cm to 125cm. We skied carefully in the lower elevation terrain to
avoid small trees, alder and fallen logs. The tree bombs (dense snow
that has fallen off the trees) became more apparent later in the week
and projected the occasional unsuspecting skier onto their butts.
Overall, we had a great week of thigh-deep powder skiing. More on the way.
Ski well and have fun.
Craig Hollinger,
ACMG Assistant 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.
[MCR] Monashee Mtns- NE of Craigellachie Ck and the Gorge ski touring/logging area
Spent the past five days in the Monashees, west of the Perry River, North of the TCH and NE of the Craigellachie ck/Gorge ski touring area.
The only significant weakness we found in the snow pack is the surface hoar and facets from Dec 9th. We had no consistent results in our snow pack tests and with lots of aggressive skiing as there just wasn't a slab on top of the layer yet. Thursday afternoon, we finally started finding enough of a settled slab to get some cracking and slight propogation at treeline. No avalanches were triggered but it was enough to keep us from wandering round above the cliffs where we were supposed to be doing a cliff rescue practise. Tests on friday showed little change in the weak layer or slab character. We managed to get lots of great skiing in with some reasonable terrain choices.
My guess is that we may be in for a short avalanche cycle if we get some moderate precipitation this weekend. My hope is that the warm snowpack will round this layer out and it will stop bugging us within a few days. Time will tell and obviously it could be very different in other parts of the Monashees.
Good skiing and early season coverage to around 1500m. Below this it gets a little bushy.
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
laristan@telus.net
Friday, December 18, 2009
[MCR] BC Avalanche Conditions Dec 18
I have posted a discussion paper reviewing current avalanche conditions throughout BC. You can view the paper on any of the Canadian Avalanche Centre forums found at:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
[MCR] Hafner Ck- New Anchors
Went to Hafner today, a very balmy -9! Excellent ice and mixed conditions, although seems like less ice overall than usual. Since the fire, we can no longer depend on tree anchors, so I plugged in a new station for the farthest left flow. The 2 ring bolt anchor is located soon after the ice breaks over, 4-5 feet off the ground, leftside . I put in also another station that services pretty much the right hand steeper ice of this same flow, Boyd Mystery climbs as well as Half & Half (thanks for reccomending that one Sean) Find the only black rock outcrop above these routes (directly above B mystery). Happy Ice,
Eric Dumerac, Mountain Guide,
IceXperts.ca
Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you're up to on Facebook.
Eric Dumerac, Mountain Guide,
IceXperts.ca
Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you're up to on Facebook.
[MCR] Aquarius Dec 16/09
Regards,
Marco Delesalle
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
[MCR] Coast - Mt Chief Pascall Dec. 16
Climbed up to treeline on the West ridge of Mt Chief Pascall today (Wed. Dec. 16th) from the weather station (4100'). 25cm of storm snow in the parking lot at 9:45am, -1.5 deg.
Climbing through the cutblock we observed widespread whumphing and cracking up to 60m long, with a few very small size 1 slabs on steep unsupported features (eg. cutbanks) failing on 20mm surface hoar down 30cm. This was then entraining 3-4cm of well developed facets immediately beneath. We did not find any more surface hoar above the elevation of the cutblock.
At 5550' I remote triggered a size 1 soft slab (fist + hardness) 30m wide x 20cm deep x 40m long which failed within the storm snow. At this location under cliffs the most recent crust was down 90cm.
Ski penetration increased to 30cm near the top of our run (6130') at 1:20pm, with 80cm foot penetration (the crust was down 80cm). At this time we heard the roar of an avalanche that sounded like it came off the peak of Chief Pascall, suspect size 2-3.
We leap-frogged most of the way down our run as it was difficult to maintain speed on anything less than 30 degrees in the heavy snow.
Back at the weather station at 1530 there was another 20cm of new snow since we departed to make 40cm of storm snow. It had warmed up to 0 degrees.
In general the snow was not cohesive enough to propagate a large slab at the elevations we observed, but I suspect this will change as the storm snow quickly settles in the warm temperatures forecast.
Alex Geary
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide
Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access both.
Climbing through the cutblock we observed widespread whumphing and cracking up to 60m long, with a few very small size 1 slabs on steep unsupported features (eg. cutbanks) failing on 20mm surface hoar down 30cm. This was then entraining 3-4cm of well developed facets immediately beneath. We did not find any more surface hoar above the elevation of the cutblock.
At 5550' I remote triggered a size 1 soft slab (fist + hardness) 30m wide x 20cm deep x 40m long which failed within the storm snow. At this location under cliffs the most recent crust was down 90cm.
Ski penetration increased to 30cm near the top of our run (6130') at 1:20pm, with 80cm foot penetration (the crust was down 80cm). At this time we heard the roar of an avalanche that sounded like it came off the peak of Chief Pascall, suspect size 2-3.
We leap-frogged most of the way down our run as it was difficult to maintain speed on anything less than 30 degrees in the heavy snow.
Back at the weather station at 1530 there was another 20cm of new snow since we departed to make 40cm of storm snow. It had warmed up to 0 degrees.
In general the snow was not cohesive enough to propagate a large slab at the elevations we observed, but I suspect this will change as the storm snow quickly settles in the warm temperatures forecast.
Alex Geary
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide
Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access both.
Monday, December 14, 2009
[MCR] Whistler Backcountry - Singing Pass Ski Out
Please see below message from the Whistler Area Park Ranger
Hello,
The Singing Pass trail used to ski out from the Musical Bumps Backcountry Area is in bad shape due to having about 50 trees down across it. What used to take 30 min now takes about 2-2.5hrs with the bulk of the trees down across the trail between Signing Pass and Oboe Creek. Hopefully the trees get cut off in the next week or so, but until then it may be better to return to Whistler Resort and ski out that way... watch out for winch cats and sleds after hours on the resort...
>
> Aaron Donohue
>
> Whistler Area Park Ranger
>
> PO Box 220
>
> Brackendale, BC, V0N 1T0
>
> Office: 604-898-3678 ext 2238
>
> Aaron Donohue
>
> Whistler Area Park Ranger
> PO Box 220
>
> Brackendale, BC, V0N 1T0
> Office: 604-898-3678 ext 2236
>
> Cell: 604-815-8713
>
> Aaron Donohue
>
> Whistler Area Park Ranger
>
> PO Box 220
>
> Brackendale, BC, V0N 1T0
>
> Office: 604-898-3678 ext 2238
>
> Aaron Donohue
>
> Whistler Area Park Ranger
> PO Box 220
>
> Brackendale, BC, V0N 1T0
> Office: 604-898-3678 ext 2236
>
> Cell: 604-815-8713
--
Cheers,
John Furneaux
ACMG/IFMGA
Mountain Guide
604.892.4689
[MCR] South Coast, Oboe Mt.
I spent the weekend around Oboe. Colder temps -15 to -20 where breaking down a nasty surface crust and causing lots of faceting below. The Nov 26 crust is still strong and buried 10 to 50 cm down. Skiing conditions where quite variable and crunchy. At 230pm yesterday there was 2cm new snow on top of all this. Some new snow will really better the skiing as well as increase the avalanche hazard.
Dave Sarkany
SG
Email on the go, sent by TELUS
_______________________________________________
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, December 13, 2009
[MCR] Sea to Sky Ice
Just a little Ice update for some of the poplar valley floor climbs
- Kluanee column is IN
- Slabs to the left of the falls are In but getting on them is thin
- Cal check is IN and the fatest ice I have found on the valley floor - Good climbing
- Wedge is not IN however it you could TR a thin faint mixed line
- Soo Bluffs are not IN, again the start is very thin
Overall its quite dry out there, many climbs are "fat" on top but don't touch down..
To the guys (Phil and Sean) i saw at Cal Chek today. Please call me at the below number, i ended up with your BD Ice gloves.
--
Cheers,
John Furneaux
ACMG/IFMGA
Mountain Guide
604.892.4689
--
Cheers,
John Furneaux
ACMG/IFMGA
Mountain Guide
604.892.4689
[MCR] Selkirks, Kootenay Pass
Spent today touring around Stagleap Park.
Like many other areas, this past week's cold weather and intense winds have had their effect on the snow. The surface condition is extremely variable, ranging from bulletproof hard slab to soft facetted powder. The wind effect can be found well into the treeline. Tricky ski conditions - a couple cm's of recent snow made it quite hard to predict how the next turn was going to work out.
With so much wind action the snowpack depth was quite variable but averaged about 120cm at 2000m. The cold weather has promoted the growth of facets which were present in the top 40-60cm of the otherwise well settled snowpack.
It shouldn't be too long until the skiing conditions improve with snow forecast for this week, but this thick layer of facets will be one to watch as the season progresses.
Cheers,
Jeff Volp
ACMG Ski Guide
Like many other areas, this past week's cold weather and intense winds have had their effect on the snow. The surface condition is extremely variable, ranging from bulletproof hard slab to soft facetted powder. The wind effect can be found well into the treeline. Tricky ski conditions - a couple cm's of recent snow made it quite hard to predict how the next turn was going to work out.
With so much wind action the snowpack depth was quite variable but averaged about 120cm at 2000m. The cold weather has promoted the growth of facets which were present in the top 40-60cm of the otherwise well settled snowpack.
It shouldn't be too long until the skiing conditions improve with snow forecast for this week, but this thick layer of facets will be one to watch as the season progresses.
Cheers,
Jeff Volp
ACMG Ski Guide
[MCR] Gibraltor Wall
Climbed at Gibraltor wall today. The wall is in reasonable early season conditions, albeit a bit more challenging than normal (4+ ish ) Protection on the middle pitches is a bit challenging due to brittle cauliflower ice and some longer screws are recommended. The temps today were a little more moderate than Alberta. -10. with mix of sun and cloud...
The road is in good condition with only a trace of snow...
Cheers..
Troy Kirwan
Mountain Guide
Saturday, December 12, 2009
[MCR] Rogan's Gully Dec 11
We climbed Rogan's Gully yesterday, Dec 11. The route is fine with more challenge than normal in the middle "narrows" section. Interesting climbing there with some rock moves. The route has little snow on it and will gain quality once the scree and boulders are covered in snow. Having said that we had a good time.
Happy trails,
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
[MCR] Massey's
Guided Massey's today, Dec 12. Walked across the Kicking Horse River, no problem. The climb is in good shape. 30-50 cm snowpack is rotting out with the cold. Mossy's and Quivering Buttcheeks look good (mixed climbs to the right of the route). The Yoho Blow was honking on the way back across the Kicking Horse (powerful outflow wind from the Yoho Glacier and Wapta Icefield via the Yoho Valley).
Long live the beautiful, indomitable spirit of Guy Lacelle, climb on brother.
Take care,
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
Friday, December 11, 2009
[MCR] South Western BC, Manning Park
Hi,
I was skiing out of the Manning Park ski area for the last 4 days. At Allison Pass there is about 40cm of snow, but at Tree Line there is an average of 1.5 meters. The area has had little wind effect and the warm inversion temperatures from a week ago did not seem to effect this place. The trees still hold plenty of snow. The day time temps where around -15.
The skiing was quite good- to almost excellent- from ridge top to valley bottom on nice sugary facets.
Ski Penetration is 15-20 cm. Foot Pen is 40cm.
The November 26 crust 5-10 cm thick and is buried under 30-40 cm of faceting snow. The November 28 crust is so decomposed it does not effect sking.
I was getting moderate shears under and above the Nov 26th crust on 1-2mm facets. The crust is nicely glazed – very smooth on top. So, I bet the next time we get snow on top of this things are going to move. The snowpack is very solid from just under the crust to ground.
Stability is Good and Hazard is Low here- at Tree Line.
Yesterday afternoon, as I drove from Manning to Hope, I saw lots of reasonably thick ice forming everywhere.
Dave Sarkany
SG
Thursday, December 10, 2009
[MCR] Mt. Pattison ~ Spearhead Range
Continued cold and clear yesterday with very light winds made for a good day in the hills.
We travelled from the Blackcomb-Spearhead Col to the north-northwest side of Mount Pattison via the climber's left flank of Decker Glacier and the head of Trorey Gl.
We skied out via the Mt. Trorey/Decker Mountain col, staying above 7000' and contoured out to 7th Heaven via the traditional exit west of Decker Mountain.
Skiing was best (wind-pressed, less breakable, grippy) on south-facing terrain in the alpine but most other surfaces/aspects were very wind-affected from last week's outflow winds - either scoured on top or plenty of wave-like 'sastrugi' (the snow-equivalent of a concrete street curb). In places, it was easy to break through the scoured surfaces to the softer, faceted snow underneath.
The crevasses that were beginning to fill in so well earlier have begun to sag this week as the cold temperatures allow bridges to erode some. The lack of new snow has made them more identifiable, too. The crevasse hazards, on this route, currently lurk on convex or bulging features and near the heads and sides of glaciers where the main body of the glacier is pulling itself away from adjacent rock faces or permanent snow (headwalls). Having glacier-travel gear along with you is not a bad idea right now, especially should you find yourself up there in flat-light or a whiteout.
It was very quiet in the Spearhead Range yesterday.
Beyond the fuss of finding good skiing, it is just a brilliant time to be up in the high places right now......
Wishing Everyone safe travels,
Dale Marcoux
Asst. Ski Guide
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
We travelled from the Blackcomb-Spearhead Col to the north-northwest side of Mount Pattison via the climber's left flank of Decker Glacier and the head of Trorey Gl.
We skied out via the Mt. Trorey/Decker Mountain col, staying above 7000' and contoured out to 7th Heaven via the traditional exit west of Decker Mountain.
Skiing was best (wind-pressed, less breakable, grippy) on south-facing terrain in the alpine but most other surfaces/aspects were very wind-affected from last week's outflow winds - either scoured on top or plenty of wave-like 'sastrugi' (the snow-equivalent of a concrete street curb). In places, it was easy to break through the scoured surfaces to the softer, faceted snow underneath.
The crevasses that were beginning to fill in so well earlier have begun to sag this week as the cold temperatures allow bridges to erode some. The lack of new snow has made them more identifiable, too. The crevasse hazards, on this route, currently lurk on convex or bulging features and near the heads and sides of glaciers where the main body of the glacier is pulling itself away from adjacent rock faces or permanent snow (headwalls). Having glacier-travel gear along with you is not a bad idea right now, especially should you find yourself up there in flat-light or a whiteout.
It was very quiet in the Spearhead Range yesterday.
Beyond the fuss of finding good skiing, it is just a brilliant time to be up in the high places right now......
Wishing Everyone safe travels,
Dale Marcoux
Asst. Ski Guide
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
[MCR] (no subject)
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
[MCR] Selkirks / Slocan Ice
We climbed the first 2 pitches of "Home By Noon" today. This is the right hand of the two broad twin ice slabs above the highway just north of Slocan City (see photo).
The ice was mostly quite plastic and thick enough for medium length screws with the exception of the last 10m to the second anchor which was a bit too thin for even stubbies.
The first bolted anchor is tucked under a roof and gives excellent protection from icefall above. The second anchor bolts had to be chopped out from under an inch of ice.
The third pitch which traverses wildly right through an easy bolt protected but exposed rock ledge seemed to be lacking thick enough ice on the exit pillar.
We were just barely able to rap to within 1m of the ground from the second anchor with some stretchy 60m ropes, but probably better to swing right and reach the first anchor to descend in 2 raps.
Assorted smears are freezing up in various locations along the Slocan Valley and things will get even more exciting as the cold weather continues. Vanishing Falls and Enterprise both look climbable from the road.
Enjoy,
Shaun King
ACMG Alpine Guide
ACMG Alpine Guide
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
[MCR] Test
Testing the site
Sent from Cameron McCullough's IPhone.
_______________________________________________
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.
[MCR] Monashee Mountains, Dec 9th, 2009. Glide cracks and the snowpack.
Just finished 2 weeks skiing in the Western Monashees(Mustang Powder Lodge), north of the TCH and west of km 21 on the Perry River Rd. NE of the Gorge ck.
Generally, as of the afternoon of Dec.8th, we had a strong early season snowpack. Lots of strong Northerly winds have beaten up the alpine and into treeline. So the alpine ski quality was poor and there is still some concerns about skier triggering windslabs up high. Below treeline it is a different world, we were calling the snow stability very good, the ski quality was good and we were confidently skiing almost anything that held snow. If I could be excused for slipping into the "modern' vernacular- "Yesterday, below treeline in that area, myself and my huge group of cat skiers were "killin' it". That was very satisfying, at least in part because I know that come the next storm, "it" will may well be trying to kill us!
The one disturbing anomaly we observed was a few more big, active glide cracks than usual. These are still moving in the cold temps and we have been avoiding some good skiing just to keep from being underneath these dynamics beasts. As an example, on Dec. 7th, after several days of cold temps, a glide crack over 100m wide and in at least 150cms of snow moved 5m downslope in one afternoon, gently buckled a huge part of the slope and then stopped. YIPES!!!
This cold high is, at least trying, to turn the current snow surface into the first big weak layer of the winter. Time will tell whether we can forget it eventually, but it will be an important part of the picture when the next storm hits. That would be a REALLY good time to keep an eye on the CAC bulletins and all the other good info out there. It will be interesting.
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
laristan@telus.net
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
[MCR] jumbo and forster creek
Ski touring up Forster Creek above the Dave White hut area at treeline there is a layer down about 55 cm in a 150 cm snowpack that is becoming more reactive to skier traffic on south aspects, which are now cross loaded from the recent wind event but this disappears quickly once in the trees. Snowmobilers in the area high-marking on steep leeward loaded slopes above
We did see a couple of natural avalanches size 1.5 on leeward slopes from cornice failures during the wind that accompanied the cold front while up in Jumbo Creek on Sunday; otherwise, very similar findings to Dave Cochrane and party south of the Bugaboo Lodge. Skiing in the trees was fabulous, and the views – incredible!
Cheers,
Kirk Mauthner; Mountain Guide
Basecamp Innovations Ltd
ph/fax (250) 342-6042
[MCR] Selkirks: Kokanee
Part way through a cold Kokanee...min temps have been in the -33 range, maximums around -18.
Only one recent avalanche, a size 1.5 windslab in a crossloaded gully feature in the alpine, probably ran on Dec 6.
On Dec 6 there was a major wind event from the NE that stripped a lot of snow in open alpine areas and created areas of hard windslab. There has been a shear on facetted decomposing/fragmented particles down about 40 cm all aspects/elevations but it has mostly been resistant in character and not reactive to skis. The October crust is down about 130 cm in an average snowpack depth of 165 cm. Although the crust occasionally has some facets around it, it is unreactive to tests.
We have been avoiding wind loaded areas and there is good skiing at treeline/below treeline elevations.
Marc Deschenes/Mark Klassen
ACMG Guides
[MCR] White Queen near Whitewater Ski area
Selkirk Mountains, Whitewater Ski area, White Queen
A beautiful bluebird day for a quick ski up White Queen. Chilly start
to the day though, -22C at the car at 10PM (1430m). Must have been an
inversion going on as the temp rose to -17C at 1600m 20 minutes later
and remained around -16C while I was up high.
Despite the lack of new snow the ski quality was excellent with at least
boot-top ski penetration. Still early season skiing though, I had to
avoid numerous christmas trees, stumps and fallen logs on the trip
down. The snow depth varied from 70-80cm at the car to around 200cm
near the summit (2200m). The weekend's winds pounded the snow into
patches of 5cm thick hard slab along the ridge-top above 2000m. These
were easily avoided by skiing just below the ridge-line. I observed
some wind scouring on nearby Whale's Back and other exposed ridge
features. I could even see 'upsidedown' ski tracks! The wind was calm
today.
The upper layer of the snowpack has a strong temperature gradient: -22C
on the surface to -14C 30cm down. The resulting facets (weak, sugary
snow) contributed the the good skiing. There is a widespread 5mm thin
crust buried 15-20cm down at all elevations I visited. It was more
apparent at lower elevations, but it didn't affect the ski quality. I
didn't observe any surface hoar (large, feathery snow crystals) anywhere
although the snow surface was quite glittery in the sun.
I didn't see any recent avalanche activity. Loose snow sloughing was
minimal, even with aggressive turns on steeper terrain.
Have fun, play safe.
Craig Hollinger
ACMG Assistant 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.
Monday, December 7, 2009
[MCR] Coast - Mt Rohr
Avalanche activity:
3 size 1-2 natural slab avalanches observed on a South West aspect around 6000' in convex rocky areas, suspect a couple of days old. 1 old size 2.5 avalanche crown observed on East aspect on most southerly glacier on Cayoosh Mountain in steep start zone.
Weather:
-19 at the salt shed at 9:10am
-17 on the West Ridge with light winds from the NW at 1:15pm (not as cold as expected)
Snow Profile:
11:30am
5800'
North West aspect
12 deg incline
-21 deg. air temp.
Height of Snow 240cm
30 cm's of facets (fist hardness) over 1 cm thick crust (Nov. 25th), with a thin (less than 1cm) rotting crust down 10cm (Nov. 29th?)
Hard shear (resistant) down 31cm on 3mm facets below the Nov. 25th crust.
Alex Geary
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide
Use Hotmail to send and receive mail from your different email accounts. Find out how.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
[MCR] Matier, Joffre Area
Up the N ridge of Matier today,
-13 deg on the glacier at 1230 hrs and the wind blowing fairly steady moderate North with scattered sky, no precip. the only significant wind transport was off the higher ridges. coverage on the skiers L glacier was a pretty consistent 250cm+ with 10 cms of variably wind affected HN sitting on the old surface. skiers R looks like it wants another 50cms or more before heading over there.
a couple of suspect sags getting onto the shoulder of Matier from the col that we threw the rope on for but otherwise easy travel up the ridge bootpacking stiff windslab, moderate sastrugi and some exposed crust (skiing was horrible coming back down)
back on Anniversary gl. the skiing was actually not too bad and the ridge above the cabin was ok, better than expected, the F res HN is sitting on a 6cm bulletproof crust at that elevation and as long as you dont hit any wind exposed spots it was pretty fun. wouldnt want to bang your head on that crust though.
the only activity that we saw was old with the exception of a sz2.5 on the N side of the Cayoosh valley, in one of the SW asp start zones above Duffey Lk, the slab looked like it pulled right to ground cover and was more recent than anything else we saw, it was a long way off though. didn't see any movement in the recent wind slab or have any results with skiing.
by the time we headed back down the track at 1545 it was snowing s-1 and was pretty much socked in.
Mike Wilson
ASG
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain 5 Dec 09
Finally dug the skis out from under the building debris today. At the
ski hill parking lot at 1300, it was -4.5 under clear skies and light NE
winds. Those winds were definitely moderate in the alpine and were busy
making hard slab and sastrugi. The usual shallow snowpack on the prairie
has an old melt-freeze crust and lots of facetting under that. I checked
out the natural avalanche in Little Simpson's Gulch that Aaron reported
on the 1st. This was a big event. The fracture line is about 300 m wide
and up to 1.5 m thick. The debris ran all the way to the bottom of
Little Simpson's Gulch. The skier's right side, which gets skied more
frequently, has not run. I would be very careful there until conditions
improve. It was -9 degrees and blowing out of the NE at ridgetop. Lots
of snow transport in the high ranges to the West. The skiing quality was
marginal at best.
ski hill parking lot at 1300, it was -4.5 under clear skies and light NE
winds. Those winds were definitely moderate in the alpine and were busy
making hard slab and sastrugi. The usual shallow snowpack on the prairie
has an old melt-freeze crust and lots of facetting under that. I checked
out the natural avalanche in Little Simpson's Gulch that Aaron reported
on the 1st. This was a big event. The fracture line is about 300 m wide
and up to 1.5 m thick. The debris ran all the way to the bottom of
Little Simpson's Gulch. The skier's right side, which gets skied more
frequently, has not run. I would be very careful there until conditions
improve. It was -9 degrees and blowing out of the NE at ridgetop. Lots
of snow transport in the high ranges to the West. The skiing quality was
marginal at best.
--
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.
Friday, December 4, 2009
[MCR] Rockies Ice
Here is a list of routes that I have climbed with guests over the last 3 weeks. All are in good shape unless otherwise noted:
Phantom Falls - short screws and a 2 inch cam useful
Spray River Falls
Red Man Soars - Spectre ice piton useful
Murchison Falls
Weeping Wall - Left Hand start/Snivelling Gully finish; the lines on the main wall are either thin or wet as of Dec 3
Guinness Gully - 13 cm screws useful on first pitch
Grotto Falls
King Creek
Tangle Falls
2 O'clock Falls
SARs on Ice
Balfour Wall
Avalanche hazard can change dramatically over a short period of time - please make your own decisions regarding current conditions.
Have fun and be safe,
Grant Meekins
Alpine Guide, Assistant Ski Guide
[MCR] Kananaskis Beacon Basin
The Beacon basin is set up once again at
Extra batteries are there in case the unit goes dead and if it does, please email Avalanche.Safety@gov.ab.ca so we can arrange to get more batteries up there.
Thanks!
Mike Koppang SG
Kananaskis Country Public Safety
Thursday, December 3, 2009
[MCR] South Coast, Spearhead Range, Mt. Pattison
Guided a trip to Mt. Pattison today.
It was sunny with lots of high cloud and a west wind. Temps never got too high. Nothing more than a few warmed ice chips fell off the slopes.
We skied up the climbers L on the Decker Glacier. Had to wind a bit about through the crevasses but there was plenty of fill and bridging with 2.4m average depth on the ice. Coming back we crossed over the top of the Trorrey Gl, same story here, but the ice is now a bit more broken than usual.
Dug a test pit on the NW face of Pattison just below the summit at 2400m and found the Nov 25 ice crust 50cm from the surface. A hard but clean compression test popped the column out just under this crust - in 1 Finger density snow which overlies Pencil hard snow. Above the crust was 1Finger to 4 Finger density snow that reacted to moderate compression but broke irregularly.
Saw 1 recent natural avalanche. A Sz 2.5 cornice/slab that came off Decker’s north side (between the 9th Hole and the Finger Chutes, 2400m). The cornice drop pulled a 30m by 50cm deep slab.
All the warm alpine temps have made skinning up easy, but has not done a great service for the downhill part. Even just a little new snow would make things better.
Dave Sarkany
SG
[MCR] Wapta Icefields - Bow Hut area
Spent the last two days touring out of the Bow Hut area, visiting the St.Nicholas/Olive Col and Rhondda South Peak. Had the hut to ourselves, which will probably never happen again in my lifetime!
Some observations that were made:
Average snowpack depth on the icefield is 200cm, with fairly even coverage on the eastern side of the icefield. There are a few sagging holes ~400m to the NW of St Nicholas, so if you're heading towards Mt Gordon, be aware of their presence.
No new avalanche activity was observed. All activity noted had run probably during the storm cycle on November 30. Quick tests and probing of slopes above 2400m showed a strong mid- to lower pack with a very soft to soft slab developing at the surface. Below 2400m, the snowpack averaged 100-120cm with generally a strong mid- to lower pack, except in areas of wind-scouring and moraines, where the base was quite faceted and weak.
Temperatures were cold on Wednesday (-28), but an inversion warmed things up on Thursday, and a pleasant -4 was measured on the summit of Rhondda South (3015m).
Winds were generally light from the north, except at ridgetop where moderate winds from the north were transporting snow.
Ski quality was variable. Ski penetration ranged from 10-15cm below 2400m. Above 2400m, 5cm was the maximum encountered. If you know how to determine which snow surface is hard sustrugi and which is soft, then you will have excellent skiing. Otherwise plan on tricky ski conditions with fast travelling on the climb up.
Enjoy this upcoming -30 degree Arctic freeze! Brrrr....
Chris Gooliaff
ASG, ARG
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
Some observations that were made:
Average snowpack depth on the icefield is 200cm, with fairly even coverage on the eastern side of the icefield. There are a few sagging holes ~400m to the NW of St Nicholas, so if you're heading towards Mt Gordon, be aware of their presence.
No new avalanche activity was observed. All activity noted had run probably during the storm cycle on November 30. Quick tests and probing of slopes above 2400m showed a strong mid- to lower pack with a very soft to soft slab developing at the surface. Below 2400m, the snowpack averaged 100-120cm with generally a strong mid- to lower pack, except in areas of wind-scouring and moraines, where the base was quite faceted and weak.
Temperatures were cold on Wednesday (-28), but an inversion warmed things up on Thursday, and a pleasant -4 was measured on the summit of Rhondda South (3015m).
Winds were generally light from the north, except at ridgetop where moderate winds from the north were transporting snow.
Ski quality was variable. Ski penetration ranged from 10-15cm below 2400m. Above 2400m, 5cm was the maximum encountered. If you know how to determine which snow surface is hard sustrugi and which is soft, then you will have excellent skiing. Otherwise plan on tricky ski conditions with fast travelling on the climb up.
Enjoy this upcoming -30 degree Arctic freeze! Brrrr....
Chris Gooliaff
ASG, ARG
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
[MCR] Ursehole ice climb
Climbed Ursehole today. In terms of avalanche hazard from above, I felt comfortable climbing the route as Yesterday, I checked out Cascade mountain and was surprised to see less snow than I would have thought. Also the warm temps from last week has settled the snowpack and this latest cold spell has helped consolidate it for now, though the cold temps also caused some basal faceting that may haunt us later. The bowl above Ursehole had some old isolated sluffs that ran about 50-70 meters, they did not trigger anything else and probably occurred during the storm. I could not detect much wind effect in the bowl either and the summit ridge cornices are currently very small. Small surface hoar limited to below treeline. We had great conditions on Ursehole today and the pocket glacier from last seasons compressed avalanche debris is quite amazing, forming a large roof overhead. Ursehole direct unfortunately was extremely wet with fragile chandeliers. The left fork climb was excellent. Bolted anchors are still looking good though one of the chains is looking a bit rusty.
Happy Trails
Eric Dumerac-IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
iceXperts.ca IGB guide bureau
Get a great deal on Windows 7 and see how it works the way you want. Check out the offers on Windows 7now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)