Sunday, January 4th, 2009: Cerise Creek/Keith's Cabin.
The nature of a westerly flow of weather is fast-moving, keeps freezing levels lower, and snowfalls can be heavy. That was certainly the case today; the weather embedded itself very quickly in the mountains of the Intercoastal Range (Duffey Lake area) and snowfall amounts along with wind speeds continued to increase throughout the day.
Of particular note was the very strong south-westerly winds that began blowing in the alpine, at treeline, and into below treeline terrain by midday. Currently, there is significant transport and drifting of previous mountain snows as well as all this new storm snow into most lee terrain and also down into much lower lee terrain than is normal. Skinning and ski tracks were rapidly being filled-in by the moving snow and accumulations were becoming significant.
The snow that is currently being moved into avalanche start zones is becoming more cohesive and slabby, and the hazard is currently increasing.
We stayed away from steep open terrain as well as any terrain that was exposed from above because of the building slabs in those areas and also because there is an existing hazard there already. Essentially, we skinned up from the valley earlier in the day and then skied one short run in lower angle terrain amongst thicker trees on the way back down to the road. A hot coffee in Pemberton seemed like a better idea.
The trail from the road in to the cabin is getting better but still a little 'boney' in places. Plenty of tree bombs fell today because of those stiff winds.
Not a bad idea to let these vigorous storms pass, and the snow to settle, before venturing out.......
Dale Marcoux
Assistant Ski Guide
ACMG Member
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