| I spent Thurs and Fri on and off the piste at Lake Louise and today toured on Mt Field.
The main thing going on right now in all areas is wind effect on all aspects at treeline and alpine elevations. Most of this wind effect seems to be scouring, where the snow all went I'm not sure, but surely there must be hard windslabs lurking near ridgecrests and in crossloaded features. Most wind affected areas I saw just have windcrust rather than windslabs. Cornices are large however and I saw evidence of several cornice falls, but not much in the way of attendant slab failures.
There is good skiing to be had below treeline and in sheltered areas at higher elevations (although it's hard too find the goods up high). We had good runs in Corral Creek at Lake Louise and on Mt Field. Ankle deep ski pen, fast skiing, well settled lower snowpack. The LL ski hill is in good nick right now too, nary a rock in sight, the entire world open for skiing and nobody there mid-week.
BIG surface hoar in the trees on Mt Field. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide |