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Went up Lesser Flute for some skiing today. Access
was from Whistler Mountain. None of the alpine lifts where turning, and
the only access was from the bottom of Harmony Chair. Every other
route out was cut off by Avalanche Closures and will likely
remain that way tomorrow unless the patrol gets to do more avalanche
control.
The avalanche control that was done on Harmony
Ridge did not cause the snow pack to avalanche. This was, I think, the first
avalanche control the ridge had scene - with no skier compaction
either. In other areas I did not see any natural, or human
triggered avalanches except for a small size 1 sluff on a east
facing aspect (skier triggered).
We skiied two runs on the north west side
of Lesser Flute. The snow was very enjoyable, reasonably light and had a
ski pen of about 25cm. The total height of snow at 1800 meters
was 135cm. Most terrain features are pretty well filled
in. The creeks are visible dips, but mostly snow covered and easy to
ski across.
As for a summary of the snow pack:
(where I measured the 135cm height of snow)
There is Fist density snow from the surface down to
35cm. Within that layer there is a layer of stellar snow crystals that
caused easy compression tests.
Below that is a layer of 4 Finger Density snow
that quickly changed to Pencil density as one looks down the pit
wall. This snow showed a couple of Moderate compression tests,
but the resulting fractures where irregular breaks.
At 65cm below the surface there is a slight change
in density, with looser snow (almost 4 finger density) under
the Pencil density snow. Here I managed to get Hard Compression Tests
- the fracture was very clean each time. This failure point could be a
problem in the future - if it is widespread.
The usual near ground ice layer made up the bottom
30cm of the snow pack. I got a moderate/hard shovel shear test on
this.
I'm rating the Hazard at Tree Line
(where I was) at Moderate. The Stability as
Good.
Definitely feels like winter! The attached photo
was taken today from Flute looking E at Oboe Mt.
Dave Sarkany, Ski
Guide
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