[MCR] Howsons 20 Jan 06

Subject: [MCR] Howsons 20 Jan 06
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 14:22:33 -0800
Got to spend a day at the lodge yesterday. There are 155 cm of snow at the lodge and more than 300 on the Solitaire Glacier. We saw evidence of a widespread avalanche cycle very likely on the 16th of January. Many windloaded features had slid to size 3. I suspect that nothing stepped down to the deep instabilities. Currently, we only saw sluffs out of steep terrain.

Skiing quality was excellent from top to bottom. The snow is very deep below timberline. Above TL it is underlain by a firmer layer that makes for easier trail breaking.

A snow profile at 1650 m in a scoured area showed 243 cm HS. The raincrust is now 120 cm down. It produces fast and consistent shears in the hard range. There are a few instabilities in the storm snow. We could not find any surface hoar, but the site is very wind exposed.

The temperature was -11 at 2200 m, with light NE winds and some clouds moving around.
--
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
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