[MCR] Mountain Conditions Summary - November 10

Subject: [MCR] Mountain Conditions Summary - November 10
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:09:45 -0600

ICE

Ice is finally in. Climbers have reported decent early season conditions on Twisted Sister, Bourgeau Right & Left (thin), Kidd Falls (thin), R&D. Hazards: keep in mind that this is early season ice, easy to access, but probably thin, weak and more serious than later in the season. As well, while avalanche hazard has been minimal up until the recent heat wave, snow levels in start zones are approaching or exceeding threshold levels. The last snowfall, and the fact that the temperatures have skyrocketed over the past 36 hours, means that avalanche hazard has increased in some areas. (see below).

SNOW

Rockies
It's been a fantastic early season for skiing, with great reports coming out of the Wapta, Highwood Pass area, Bow Summit area, Surprise/Saddleback, and Sunshine/Lake Louise.

There are some imminent concerns, however. To begin with, we have had close to a week with lots of new snow and intense wind. To make matters worse, the last 24 hours of chinooking have raised freezing levels to treeline or higher. On Thursday, isothermal conditions were reported in Highwood Pass where the temperature was +10 C in the afternoon. The winds and warm temperatures have been forming stiff slabs on North and East aspects and easy shears have been reported at the October rain crust (the major layer of concern right now). A size 2.5 natural avalanche, North aspect, was reported yesterday above Bow Hut. Of note, the side slopes above the Bow canyons were covered in low density snow on Tuesday, but on Wednesday isolated slabs were reacting to ski cutting. Things are changing rapidly. Fortunately, the temperatures are forecasted to drop again throughout Friday and by the weekend should be back to normal. Snow stability may begin to improve later in the weekend but there is continued precipiatation in the forecast. At the present time, Parks Canada is rating the Danger as Considerable at treeline and in the alpine. Hopefully this year's infamous November Rain Crust won't develop into the monster it's been in past years.

Interior

Decent early season skiing has been reported from Rogers Pass area, and approach trails, while a little bony, can be skied in their entirety with a good pair of rock skis.

On Wednesday (Oct 9) the slide path from Cheops North Face above the turn up into Ursus Bowl had run around 1pm down to the half fan level in two narrow lobes. Other than that not much activity reported. HS at 2100 m in Balu Pass area was reported at about 140 cm, and moderate compression test results about a metre down above the early season melt/freeze crust.

Coast

Again, some tantalizing reports of skiing have been coming from the coast, especially the Blackcomb "nearcountry" glaciers, e.g. Blackcomb, Husumi,
Horseman... but limited reports on avalanche hazard.

For detailed avalanche reports, see http://avalanche.ca. Parks Canada has been issuing reports already for over a week, and CAA bulletins will begin in just a few days.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe
Larry Stanier