Saddle Mtn in Lk. Louise yesterday. Skied the N face couloir. Not quite yet
ready for good ski quality as the 3cm surface melt freeze crust made for
good traveling but poor skiing. Found the March SH (surface hoar) layer
(3-5mm 70% of it still standing proud) with a N facing, 20deg. test profile
@ 7700ft, 50cm down with easy compression/shear test. Would not have
continued to the couloir if it had not already slid recently. On the way
back from the Parkway today I noticed that the North Face of Saddle had slid
near ridge top in the last 12hrs, with a size 2 that surely slid on SH
triggered by pm warming. On this short fun tour, there is some route-finding
and steep boot packing down North side of ridge where it peters out into
steep cliffs- find inukshuk 40 meters down off ridge for gully feature
leading to top of couloir.
Cirque Pk today: Up the S ridge via Helen lake, thence down the SSE face
from summit. In perfect condition right now, with a short boot pack near
summit. Amazing long dist. vistas of Assiniboine, Bryce, etc. On this East
side of the highway the S aspects we skied were excellent. The corn is not
quite ripe yet but the cooler temps of Fri and Sat dried out the S asp snow
pack and created surface melt freeze re-crystallization that felt like a
skiff of powder up high and warmed to corn like snow below. No surface hoar
found, no whumfing or avalanches observed. Though it was a scorcher today,
due to the good overnight freeze we hardly got any snowballing or pinwheels,
neither was there any isothermal snow until below tree-line. Stability and
hazard definitely felt good up there today but if it really warms up as it
is forecasted beware of wet snow, isothermal slides on steeper aspects.
Get out there!
Eric Dumerac, Ass. Ski/Alpine Guide.
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