Skiied up in the Crowfoot area today, to skier’s left of the actual glades on an open north aspect. At that exposed alpine location and elevation (2100 metREs), there was only evidence of one of the upper problem layers (down 35 cm) but it was primarily facetted. I had to look pretty hard to find surface hoar crystals but there were still some little buggers in there. High moderate results with weak fracture characteristics plus an absence of surface slab made for 3 great laps. Trail breaking (N, NE aspects) up through the trees wasn’t too bad at about 15 cm of ski penetration, although there was the odd (and sometimes even) facet hole lurking.
The Parks Canada bulletin weather forecast was pretty much spot-on with light convective flurries and cloud all day which kept the temperatures down and solar heating virtually non-existent – it stayed below zero all day. We started out with about 3 cm of new and probably another 1 cm fell during the day.
Ken Bélanger
TopCog Adventures
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide
CAA Level 2