[MCR] Howsons 10 Jan 07

Subject: [MCR] Howsons 10 Jan 07
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:55:01 -0800
The arctic air has arrived and temperatures have dropped to -18 degrees in the alpine. Winds were light from the E today. Today we ski cut a size 1 and a size 1.5 slab in a steep wind affected moraine slope. Our profiles show a consistent easy shear about 20 cm down and another harder shear about 30-40 cm down. We saw no new natural activity, but the visibility was not great yet. Older activity would have been covered and blown in by the strong winds and snowfalls of the last few days. We saw some older slabs from under cornices. There seem to be no deep instabilities. We recommend to be cautious in steep windloaded slopes. Skiing quality is excellent.

Mark Bender and Christoph Dietzfelbinger
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Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide IFMGA
Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222     Smithers, B.C.     Canada V0J 2N0
tel. 250-847-3351    fax 250-847-2854
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