Skied up the Asulkan valley April 17th to the base of the Cleaver yesterday (below Sapphire Col). Poor visibility and less than perfect ski conditions caused us to bail. Snowing 1 cm / hour when we left, turning to rain in valley bottom downstream of the mousetrap.
The freezing level lowered to about 1000m last night, and today (April 18th) we skied up the Illecillewaet valley. 5 cm of low density new snow at the parking lot, turning to about 20cm of new snow high on the Illecillewaet Glacier. Great morning weather turned to poor visibility near the cornice pitch on the approach to Youngs Peak. Turned around and had a great run down the Illecillewaet Glacier. Good skiing right to valley bottom, although it was getting moist. We crossed paths with about 20 people in 6 different parties over the course of the day.
Only a few loose snow avalanches observed in the new snow, to size 1.5.
Jordy Shepherd
ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide
Revelstoke, BC