[MCR] Rogers Pass Feb 4-5

I skied in Rogers Pass last weekend Feb 4-5, finishing off an ARAC
course.

Synopsis
Large avalanches continue to run and surprise professional avalanche
forecasters, enforcing the lesson that events are unpredictable right
now but when they happen they come out huge.

Windslabs a meter or more thick and deeper instabilities are causing
avalanches to start at treeline and in the alpine. They run to the
valley bottom, with ski lines at lower elevations being hit. Travel in
any terrain exposed to large treeline or alpine slopes is not
recommended in the next while, even with the improving weather.
Snowpack tests and the feel of the snow under your skis and with
probing indicates a reasonably stable snowpack below treeline, but the
threat is from any open slopes above that can run down into the trees.

Of note is that the huge avalanche that occurred off Macdonald West
Shoulder on Saturday only cleaned out part of the start zone. Hectares
upon hectares of snow was left up there above the 2 m deep fracture
lines.

Terrain
Heavy trail breaking but awesome skiing in the trees. Poor skiing at
and above treeline. Recommended routes would be Grizzly Shoulder and
Bostock Creek tree lines.

Areas visited, on Saturday - Illecillewaet (part way up to the glacier
on climbers right, well away from large slopes); on Sunday - Grizzly
Shoulder. Max elevation gained was 1900 m on both days. Although other
skiers have been travelling through and even skiing in the lower parts
of avalanche paths, I decided against travelling beneath any runouts,
including. Most major paths in Connaught have not run and although the
Mousetrap in Asulkan got hit a week ago nobody knows how much snow is
left above there.

Avalanches
A size 2.5 ran naturally late last week into the trees (into ski lines)
in Dispatchers Bowl. On Saturday a size 4 triggered naturally and hit
the road, off Macdonald West Shoulder. Another size 3.5 was triggered
by artillery shortly after that, with all other artillery shots only
triggering small avalanches.

Snowpack
There was an average of about 2 meters of snow on the ground. The top
40 cm was unconsolidated and it got gradually denser up to the Xmas
crust, which is down 150 cm. Strengthening facets in the bottom 50 cm
of the pack. Weaknesses (compression test moderate and hard, sudden
planar shears) present down 40 cm and 75 cm but they were unreactive to
skis below treeline. In Grizzly shoulder a very thin weakening crust is
present down 100 cm (Jan 13 crust). Both this crust and Xmas crust were
unreactive to compression tests, but had hard sudden planar shears with
deep tap tests. Reports of skiers who ventured to treeline on Sunday
indicated "upside down" slabby surface snow layers (and poor skiing).

Weather
Snowing hard on Saturday, max temp near 0 degrees, calm. Snowing
lightly on Sunday, max temp about -1, moderate winds from the west
transporting lots of snow at ridgetops. Close to 25 cm snow
accumulation over the weekend.

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] K-Country

Good skiing near Black Prince today with a couple of my teaching colleagues.

Moderate to Strong winds from the west throughout the morning and early
afternoon down to valley bottom, howling up high, then calming down a bit
with snow at about 1 cm/hr (rimed) starting at around 1 pm. Temps were
hovering just below the freezing level throughout the day--perfect
conditions for slab formation.

The snowpack in this area is quite wind affected, but BELOW TREELINE the
storm snow from the past couple of weeks seems to be well settled and
bonding well to the facet/crust midpack. That said, the intense wind and new
snow is increasing the avalanche danger in all open areas even well below
treeline.

We observed a couple of recent sz 1.5-2.0 slab avalanches out of steep
unskiable terrain, NE aspect, at around 2300 metres. We were very cautious
in our use of terrain in order to avoid steep exposed features. We gave
runout zones from the high alpine a wide berth out of concern that large
avalanches might run full path on the rotten facets/depth hoar near the
ground.

Ski penetration was about 20-30 cm and travel was easy to moderate. Ski
quality was a little variable from the wind but mainly excellent in
sheltered areas.

I would rate the danger as: Alpine, High (limited observations); Treeline,
Considerable; Below Treeline, Moderate.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rogers Pass Jan 30- Feb 2

Just back from 4 days at Rogers Pass with a Warden Service Deep Snow
school.

Nearly a meter of snow fell since Sunday. There were two Red Forms with
control work one on Monday and one Wednesday with size three + avalanches
on both shoots. Some avalanches are still stepping down to early season
facet weaknesses.

There is about 280cm of snow at treeline with approx 130cm of DFs over the
January 13 Crust. Several shears in the storm snow came and went over the
four days. Ski pen was about 60 on Monday/Tuesday but settled out to around
30 by Thursday.

At around 1500metres on a south aspect we ski cut/triggered a few size 1
slabs about 60-80cm deep shearing on the Jan 13 CR on steep unsupported
features in the trees.

Skiing was good once the snowpack settled and trailbreaking became
manageable. We were avoiding all of the open terrain.

Stability: Poor Poor Fair .Trend: improving.

Brad White
UIAGM Mountain Guide

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain 2 Feb 06

Skied to the 1500 m observation site on the E side of Hudson Bay Mountain
today. Temperatures were -1.5 at 1100 m and -4 at 1500 m. It was snowing
moderately off an on through the morning. The height of snow is now 140 to 170
cm. The fracture lines from the 24 January cycle and bombing were snowed in.
It appeared that nothing much moved since then, but there was a widespread
cycle on the 24th.

We dug a pit in a shallow area. There are several instabilities in the storm
snow. We found a surface hoar layer 60 cm down. The surface hoar was heavily
rounded, but still recognizable.

Strong wind was reported at the ski hill yesterday. We were able to ski cut
about 15 cm down with good propagation where there was wind effect. This
increases at higher elevations.

--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide
Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca
tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Crowfoot Glades/Pass Area

Crowfoot Glades/Pass

Wolfman Tom, Sinead and I enjoyed very good ski quality here today with
30-40 cm's of new storm snow. Ski penetration is shin deep and trail
breaking was moderate. We saw snow blowing off alpine ridges today and wind
slabs were building and intensifying. There is a good possibility with winds
or cornice acting as a trigger that in the alpine, a primary avalanche of
the new storm snow could step down and trigger a much larger avalanche, so
be very careful to give large slide paths a wide berth. Danger in Alpine is
High. At tree-line and below tree-line we skied wind sheltered areas and
felt comfortable with the danger. However this new snow is on the heavier
side with more moisture in it, perfect for windslabs. Skiing up to Crowfoot
pass we encountered a bowl that is affected by valley channeling winds and
was very slabby and prone to avalanches in steeper wind-affected areas. Thus
we are calling the danger at tree-line considerable with caution on any lee
and cross loaded features. Below Tree-line we called it moderate. We saw one
natural avalanche of size 2 come from un-skiable terrain off of N face of
Mt. Crowfoot. We had no wumphing or shooting cracks today.

Info for the experts; Wx obs, snpk structure:
Elevation range 1930m-2240, at 12:48- Overcast, snowing 1cm hr, -1°, wind L
SE, Ridge Blo M SW.
HS at TL (7290ft), 144-175cm. Study pit 145cm deep NW asp, 34 deg. From
surface; 0-10 F sd some rm, 10-36 4F DF, 36-51 RG 1F, 51-54 wc P, 54-76 mx
1f+, 76-100 mx P, 100-130 FC P-, 130-140 FC 1F+, 140-145 DH.
25 down CTE 6 RP on HST interface, 51 dn CTM 15x2 RP on wc, 54 dn CTM 15/CTH
24 both RP.

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Callaghan Country Lodge, 25 Km West of Whistler

 

Was working at Callaghan Country Lodge (near Whistler) for the last 9 days (Jan 23-31st).  Meters of snow fell during this time. During the last 3 days: 40 cm came in the last storm (ending Monday morning), and 30cm of new snow was on the ground by yesterday afternoon 3pm. The snow depth at Callaghan Lodge (4500') is 390 cm. Most smaller creeks are covered over, but the larger creeks (more than 4m wide) are still a problem to cross (3-4m snow walls with running water below).  I guess by not having a real freeze to date this winter the creeks never completely iced over and subsequently got covered.  

 

The Jan 19th surface hoar layer (buried140cm below the snow surface at 5200') seems to have stabalized. I have not seen any avalanches run on it lately and tests indicate it has consolidated between layers.

 

On the 30th we got into the alpine and saw lots of wind effected snow. Found a few size 1-2 natural avalanches that slid during that previous nights storm.

 

Yesterday skiied tree line runs on a south aspects 4500'- 6000'.  Found a weak 1cm crust just below the surface that was caused by the previous days sun, but it did not hamper skiing. 

 

I treated the stability at Tree Line as Considerable (as of yesterday 3pm).  I have not seen the Alpine enough (due to storms for the last couple of days) to comment.

 

All days the trail breaking was knee to thigh deep in Tree Line areas and less in the Alpine due to wind packed snow. Due to deep snow downhill skiing was only possible in steeper areas and it produced very good quality turns, the only difficulty was breathing (take a snorkle). 

 

  

Dave Sarkany,  Ski Guide

 

Callaghan Backcountry Lodge  www.callaghancountry.com

[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain 23 Jan 06

<This is an old post of Christoph's that didn't go through; apologies for
its lateness, but I thought it would make for interesting reading anyhow ...
TW>

A day of much precipitation and wind. The wind is strong from the south
in the alpine, but light just below 1600 m. About 15 cm of snow fell at
the ski hill in the last 24 hours. Temperatures were -4 at 1600 m.

We felt several medium sized whumpfs and cornices broke about 40 cm
thick when kicked. Again, we saw no avalanche activity on the Kathlyn
Face or in Simpson's Gulch, but the visibility was poor.

On 21 January, there was a skier involvement in Little Simpson's Gulch.
I spoke to one of the party today. They skied at about 1700 m on a SE
aspect near a rock. The first skier was about three turns into a 35
degree slope when he heard his partner yell. He was able to ski out.
They describe the avalanche as a hard slab up to 1 m thick and 150 m
wide. It ran 200 m. They say that after the release, the rock showed
much larger. It appears that they hit a shallow spot. It does not appear
that it stepped down into the deep instabilities. The sizes sound a bit
big to me, but it must have been scary.

We dug a pit near Little Simpson's in a still wind affected spot. There
were 173 cm of snow. The surface hoar is 80 cm down and does not react
consistently. There are several shears that compress progressively in
the storm snow. There is a hard consistent shear below a crust 120 cm
down. We also found a very thin rain crust at the surface in places - it
may have rained to TL for a bit yesterday.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide, Bear Mountaineering and Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222
Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351 fax: 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.