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Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:16:17 -0700
From: J McBurney
Toured up evening ridge yesterday. Beautiful day. Cold temps ( -13 at 8am on
the whitewater road, and -9 at 1pm on the whale's back ridge 2100m ). The
sunshine had little effect on the snow surface, even on south facing
terrain. Average snow depth 200 cm.
So it's been a few days since the big snow and wind ended, but there are
still suspect looking pillows of windslab in many start zones and in cross
loaded gully features in open areas, from the wind at the end of last week
which blew strong from the SW then swung to West and NW at the end of the
storm.
The cool calm weather we're enjoying now will help settle out these surface
instabilities with time. However this weather also favors the development of
surface hoar, which we observed, up to 10mm at ridgetop, and smaller ( 2 - 3
mm below treeline ). If these continue to grow and are not knocked down by
wind, they will be a concern when they are covered up with the next
snowfall.
The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and bonded, coverage is great for
this time of year, temperatures are forecast to remain cool, so get out
there and play safe !
Joel McBurney, ACMG Ski Guide
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