The Assistant Ski Guide Exam was skiing in the Lake Louise/Bow
Summit/Wapta region for the past week.
Variable weather over the week, with very warm solar events
interspersed between intense snow squalls and wind events. Variable
amounts of storm snow were deposited over the period, from 10-30 cm.
We found good skiing on northerly aspects above 2100m with variable
crusts and loose snow on all other slopes. There is surface hoar buried
15-30 cm down but distribution seemed variable, we found it on north
and east facing slopes at and above treeline and it was present even on
high alpine glaciers and moraines. This layer has recently been skier
triggered, with avalanches to size 1.5.
Very large avalanches have also been occurring on steep east and
northeast slopes in the alpine, most notably on the Wapta. Triggers
have been cornices which have been failing due to windloading or warm
temperatures. One avalanche off the east face of Mt Baker occurred in
the middle of the night and was size 3.5, with debris running hundreds
of meters across the flat glacier below. There were also numerous loose
snow avalanches to size 2 on solar aspects, triggered with daytime
warming.
There was good coverage on the icefields, with about 300 cm of snow.
Mark Klassen
Mountain Guide
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.alpinism.com
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