I spent Dec.22-23 skiing the Gorge road area in the
Monashees west of Revelstoke.
On Dec.22 there was @15cm of new snow that had fallen
overnight and covered a very thin (2mm.) freezing rain crust that must have
formed at the beginning of the storm. The crust itself was not even noticeable
when skiing (other than the noisy pole plants). There had been a little wind
transport right at the ridgecrest
that produced thin windslabs over the crust, but once down the slope a few
turns it disappeared leaving low density skiing and 30cm. ski penetration.
Snowpack depth at 6500ft. was 2-2.5 meters the Nov. raincrust has 1.8-2.0
meters over it in this location – there were no significant shears other
than the thin raincrust.
Reports from the Mt. Machperson
area just above Revelstoke said that there is no raincrust there – so the
location is variable and appears to be limited to the western section of the
range.
On Dec. 23 there was a further 15-20 cm. of very low density
snow – similar wind affect limited to the ridgecrest. The main concern was loose snow
sluffs triggered by the skiers as they skied down.
Last night in Revelstoke we received another 15cm. of snow from
Santa – so it was a truly White Christmas.
Best of the Season to you all,
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide