Canada West Mountain School and I donated a Mc Bride Range Traverse at the Canadian Avalanche Foundation’s fund raiser this past winter. This past week’s end (16-19th) was its date.
The first day we made it from Whistler to the Detour Ridge (Naden Pass) but then weather came in dropping nearly half a meter of snow and a poor forecast. So, due to the fast 4 day nature of the trip we bailed on the original intentions and continued around the Spearhead Traverse doing it in reverse style – from Whistler to Blackcomb.
After the storm cleared late on the afternoon of the 17th we got great powder skiing and found a couple of natural slab avalanches. By the end of the next day’s clear and warm conditions the upper snow pack had collapsed to just 15- 25 cm on top of a the previous sun crust. We saw lots of snow balling but we did not see any natural activity.
Yesterday in strong S gusty winds, temps around 0 deg, and very limited visibility we skied out from the top of the Trorrey Glacier. A quick pit on a NW aspect showed 30 cm of snow on the previous crust and presented mod-hard shears. Windward aspects where blown clear of any new snow right to the old temperature crust. It was raining when we got to Treeline. Quite Spring like! Made us pretty damp and happy to get home for beers and a big meal...
The things that stood out from the trip were: the cornices- which were not huge but looked a bit delicate (no doubt are getting bigger today), and the crevasses – many sags and holes, where normally there are much less visible this time of year.
Dave Sarkany
Ski Guide