As a follow-up to Scott's last post...
I just returned from 7 days from taking the "other" guide's course, at
Mustang Powder, a cat-ski operation east of Revelstoke in the Monashees with
a heck of a lot of snow. Here's the low-down:
Lodge elev: 1740 m
Temps: -10 to -20
40 cm storm snow (Dec 4-5)
Height of snowpack: 150 cm average above 1600 m, less in lower down and in
windswept alpine areas.
Limited alpine observations.
Weather
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We experienced moderate to high winds from the NW throughout the week. 40 cm
of storm snow starting on the evening of Dec 4 through to Dec 5. Dec 6-8
were calmer, warmer, and sunnier with a brief temperature inversion on the
morning of the 7th. The high pressure ridge is keeping up a strong fight
against the lows that have been bringing just light to moderate precip to
north and west parts of BC.
Snowpack
--------
Below the November 25 MF crust seems to consist of a dense snowpack that is
well bonded, with a distinctive thick MF/Rain crust from October about 50 cm
from the ground.
Above the November 25 crust there is about 20 cm of facetted snow with the
recent Dec 4th storm snow above it. There is heavy wind effect on all
aspects with lee loading on SE aspects and cross loading on all open terrain
on all aspects observed.
We noted a couple of weaknesses, notably a facet/surface hoar layer about
5-10 cm above the crust, a facet/SH layer at the November 25 interface, and
a mid-storm weakness halfway through the December 4th storm snow. These
weaknesses are settling out quickly. The recent cold weather and clear,
sunny days have resulted in a lot of faceting in the upper snowpack.
Stability
---------
The storm brough poor stability at treeline and above from Dec 4-6, but
things settled out quickly. A widespread avalanche cycle resulted in many sz
1-2 on all aspects which "didn't run far"... By Thursday (yesterday) we
decided: F (alpine) F (TL) G (BTL), which would likely translate to a danger
rating of Considerable in the alpine and Moderate at and below treeline.
Quality
-------
Excellent, deep powder, all aspect, in the trees. In open areas at all
elevations things were pretty hammered; this might change with the faceting.
Forecast
--------
Cool temps and light precip with moderate winds are in the Wx forecast. For
avalanche forecasts, see www.avalanche.ca!
Regards,
Tom Wolfe
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