I have just returned yesterday from 5 days of heli-assisted ski touring with CMH in the Adamant Lodge.
The main concern in the snowpack remains the two surface hoar layers about 60cm down (buried March 8) and 70cm down (Feb 24). On northerly aspects we found both layers consistently well preserved and the crystals standing up straight anywhere from tree line all the way to ridge top. In spite of the fact that there had already been a large avalanche cycle on these layers the previous week (at one fracture line profile of a sz 2 avalanche on Pyrite Ridge I measured a slope angle of only 23 degrees!), we continued to trigger avalanches remotely (i.e. from a distance), especially where wind loading had added volume and stiffness to the slab and especially on Tuesday and Wednesday when temps were warming and freezing levels rose to 2400 meters.
During Wednesday to Thursday morning we received up to 25cm of new snow (more snow towards the Selkirk divide, Austerity Creek and Fairy Meadows Hut Terrain) with cooling temps. On Thursaday we ski toured predominantly on western aspects in Austerity Creek, an area that is also accessible from the Fairy Meadows Hut. In the one pit we dug here, we found only one of the surface hoar layers about 60cm down. It was much less preserved but yielded clean shears (sudden planar) on moderate compression tests. Below about 2200 meters and on southerly aspects there was a distinct crust detectable, possibly in combination with surface hoar, which produced huge whumpfs in low angle terrain – not very confidence instilling but with the cooler temps and the low angle terrain we travelled we ended up not observing any avalanche activity. Skiing quality was excellent btw.
In summary, not much has changed lately in terms of hazard. In the alpine and at tree line, it’s all about terrain selection and sticking to conservative, relatively low angle terrain for the time being – which has been pretty much what we have been doing since the new year started.
Stay safe,
Jorg Wilz
Mountain Guide (ACMG / IFMGA)
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