I got back from working In the E Coast Mountains a couple of days ago.
This is the shallowest and most faceted snowpack this region has seen in years, and I’d bet most eastern Coast Mountain slopes, north of this region (to just south of Kitimat) share similar qualities. Two weeks ago the area got a meter of new snow on top of the facets. Most everything ripped out. BIG fracture lines everywhere. By last Friday most avalanche activity had stopped although some slopes continued to slide- cornice triggered, fracturing to the Dec 6 layer, in steep terrain.
Now in many places there still is a slab of cohesive snow sitting on top of facets. Mid last week I dug a profile in a valley to the E of Baldwin’s Cabin in the Slim drainage. Basically it consisted of 60cm of Facets and Depth Hoar below a 60 cm 1F slab of new snow. The facets where so loose that while standing in the pit I could push my fist in shoulder deep and then wave a straight arm 180 deg side to side. Below this, at ground, is the Dec 6 layer which is all ice. In another area, near the Taseko Lakes, I was still breaking through to ground skiing downhill! Although the skiing was quite good the best thing that can happen to strengthen this snowpack is for it to melt! And you can bet that is going on right now...
As you go west towards the height of land of the Coast Mountains the pack changes dramatically. It is a lot thicker and stronger. Much like your average year but with less snow depth. There is no doubt a Basal Dec 6 ice layer still lingering in most places, and I’d bet the snow above this will wake up and slide as the spring pack goes isothermal. In May 93 I did a traverse in this region (through the Toba/Compton) and there was a similar crust facet combo that winter. I watched kilometres of mountain side rip out, meters deep, after a few days of heat. Interestingly many of these big slides happened very late in the afternoon/evening even on N aspects.
Dave Sarkany
Ski Guide