[MCR] Howson Range / Burnie Glacier Chalet

Four days into a week up at Burnie Glacier Chalet.

Yesterday we ventured up the Burnie Step (an imposing feature
approaching 50 degrees), skis on the whole way up. We continued up the
Burnie Glacier and into the S. Telkwa and did a couple of gentle
glacier runs. Excellent conditions throughout the day, with deep
powder skiing down the Burnie Step. The high alpine (e.g. mountain
tops, steep exposed faces, cols) has had a fair bit of wind but it was
still easy to find great skiing.

Last night the weather came in. Currently we have about 25cm (and
still snowing) adding to 15cm storm snow from the past week. These
layers are bonding well to the previous low density 30cm from 110303
which in turn is bonding well to the underlying surfaces. No
persistent week layers appear to be present in this snowpack.

On lower elevation S aspects there is a thin sun crust that formed
yesterday afternoon. Skiing on Tom George Mtn today was nonetheless
sensational -- the soft crust is well buried by now -- and we almost
went for a fourth 700m run it was so good! But beer and munchies won
the debate.

We are calling stability Fair in the alpine with a caution for
windloading on NE-N-NW aspects and crossloaded features, and G at
Treeline and below. Considering the additional 20-30cm snow in the
forecast this could change quickly, especially with much wind, but so
far only light to occasionally moderate winds from the south. Hazard
is Considerable in Alpine, Moderate at Treeline, Good Below treeline.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA
Canmore, AB
_______________________________________________
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] Rockies, Glenmorangie

We climbed Glenmorangie today, March 7th. It's a great route and in
good shape right now. A good trail leads to the climb from the Yoho
Vally parking lot.

Like other parties we traversed right about 10 meters from the top of
the right hand, grade 3, approach to Twisted. A prominent dihedral
there leads via some mixed and thin ice to the continuous ice
systems. This first pitch (65 meters) protected well with a set of
Black Diamond Camalots .4 - 4 and ice screws (13 cm and 16 cm).

The second pitch was started from and ice balcony at the bottom right
side of the steep upper ice. We took the steepest, crux, section on
the far left against the rock. A gear search granted 3 nuts, 1
knifeblade piton, and a 10 cm screw (It may be more straight forward
to climb this pitch via the pillar on the right side).

We descended the route in two rappels from abalakovs.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com

[MCR] Howson Range/Burnie Glacier Chalet

Finished the second day of a week at the Burnie Glacier Chalet today.
Excellent skiing on 30cm low density snow from the storm last
Thurs/Friday. This snow is almost completely undisturbed high into the
alpine and has sloughed off steep faces > 45 degrees. Pleasant
temperatures around -8C and virtually no wind for the past few days.

The new snow underlies a widespread very hard (30cm) windslab from the
fierce winds/storm of Feb 25/26. This windslab appears to have bonded
well to the underlying facets.

No recent (<3 days) avalanches observed and only isolated avalanches
from during this past storm, mainly on steep South facing aspects. One
ski cut yesterday produced only a very small slab off a steep,
specific windloaded feature.

We have been skiing steep but smaller alpine features 40-50 degrees
(e.g. North Face Loft Peak direct, Mitre Col) and overall conditions
are fantastic. 3+m of snow on the glaciers (don't have a long enough
probe).

As of today we are calling Stability Good at all elevations and Hazard
Moderate (Alpine & Treeline) and Low (Below Treeline).

Regards,
Tom Wolfe

--
Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA
Canmore, AB
_______________________________________________
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] Rockies, Ice Nine

Got chased away from Ice Nine yesterday by a size 1 slough that ran over Happy Days while my buddy was finishing the first pitch of Ice Nine. Several centimeters of overnight snow on the highway. A coldish -20 something morning with consistent light snow fall as we approached (less than 1 cm/hr). Calm air, no wind. The approach gully has deep debris from large avalanches. Blue ice chunks from ice collapses, of what I assumed was Happy Days, sitting on the surface. We observed a number of small sloughs cleaning off of the mountain before the size 1 roared over Happy Days and we ran away.

Looks like the second pitch of Ice Nine is probably the crux right now. The first pitch is fractured at the roof level, but has frozen over on the front side. 

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

www.barryblanchard.ca

www.yamnuska.com

Fracture at the roof of pitch 1

Sloughing over Happy Days 10 minutes before the size 1.

[MCR] King Creek Ice Climbs

Staff training day today in King Creek. All the ice climbs are in good shape at the moment, and the ice was suprisingly not brittle given the amount of cold weather we have recently had. Rapid warming through the day with temperatures near -23 at 9:00am and close to 0 degrees at noon. This temperature change and the steady winds produced a lot of sluffing from the gullies and side walls in the canyon. One gully with a north aspect produced a significant slide that hit the regular trail. This slide certainly could have knocked a person over and easily buried them, as it covered the entire gully and actually crossed the creek a short distance. Keep a close eye on these gullies in the next few days if you are heading up the canyon. It is prudent to travel one at a time through these terrain features and keep a keen eye on the terrain above you. If really warm temperatures and windy conditions prevail, it may be worth avoiding this area all together, or at least consider the use of a transeiver, shovel and probe.
 
Play safe.

Jeremy Mackenzie
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Kananaskis Country Public Safety

[MCR] Rogers Pass

I returned yesterday from 10 days at Rogers Pass.

At the start of the trip we had excellent skiing (except on steep
SE-SW and due S aspects up to 2300m which had thin sun crusts) and
good stability. Early last week strong winds from N blew around 10-15
cm of storm snow creating hard and fairly reactive but small and thin
slabs on S aspects. The winds pretty much ruined the alpine snow but
sheltered treeline and below zones still produced excellent ski
quality.

We skied up to 48 degree alpine features taking care towards the end
of the week with the lee windslabs. Of note, steep N aspects we skied
(>40 deg) had thin and facetted snowpacks. We had fast sloughing in
the 10-15cm storm snow from the week on top of these surfaces.

Yesterday things changed dramatically with 30cm+ storm snow falling on
the 10cm storm snow from the previous week and moderate winds from the
South. I broke heavy trail up to 2100m on Teddy Bear Trees and enjoyed
excellent ski quality, even on the steep sun crusted aspects, albeit
with fast and hard sloughing. Steep exposed areas (e.g. Grizzly Bowl
direct lines) appeared to have had a natural cycle -- very soft slab
over the facets and sun crusts.

Tom

--
Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA
Canmore, AB
_______________________________________________
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] Kootenays - Valkyr Range

Just finished a week at Valkyr Lodge (south of Nakusp and west of the Valhalla Range). Primary concerns over the week were isolated areas of hard wind slab from a strong NE wind event mid-week, three weak surface hoar layers in the top meter, and large cornices.

Yesterday we had a significant storm, which started with moderate southwest winds all night and ended in the morning with a calm snowfall that put down close to 30 cm of snow in just a couple of hours (at one point I measured that it was snowing 9 cm per hour). We flew out at about noon and saw many avalanches on NE slopes, mostly soft slabs that I suspect were windslabs from the storm and/or failing on a surface hoar layer that would now be buried down about 40-50 cm. Avalanche sizes were 1.5 - 2.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide