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Skied yesterday Friday in the Commonwealth Creek
area. Temps between -22 and -8, mix of sun and cloud. About 15 - 20
cm new snow over the previous 24 hrs made for good skiing, even in old
tracks and on southern aspects. I dug a pit in the open trees below the
Tryst Lake chutes and found a snowpack that is facetted throuhgout, but pretty
well settled with a snow depth of 205 cm. No shears noted in top 150 cm on
compression test but keep in mind that this was a "fat spot".
Different story on the southern aspect in the first
avalanche path east of the huge slope that produced the deadly class
three avalanche two weeks ago.Very thin and weak snow pack in
the rocky terrain at the top with multiple suncrust and facet layers
made us descend in the trees to the left and not go out into
the avalanche path until much further down, where the
snowpack was thicker and felt better. Also, the new snow was starting
to crack on the suncrust 20cm down.
The fracture line of the above mentioned avalanche
is still well visible and most impressive is how far the fracture
propagated!
More snow in the forecast for next week! Stay
safe!
Jorg Wilz
Mountain Guide
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