[MCR] Parkway skiing

Subject: [MCR] Parkway skiing
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:49:14 -0700
Yesterday (Wed, Feb 21) we were skiing below treeline on an east aspect on the Icefields Parkway. 30-40 cm of low density recent storm snow on top of a well-settled base. No significant shears noted within the storm snow or at the old snow interface, with no surface hoar at that interface.

A fair bit of recent avalanche activity was noted out of steep, cliffy alpine slopes, up to size 2.5, running to mid-fan in the run- outs (past 48 hrs or so). This corresponds to what we observed last Sunday in the Bow Hut area, where we saw cornice falls to size 2.5.

We stayed in the trees and close to the trimlines of runout zones, we felt a bit spooked venturing further into the runouts with wind and snow squalls occurring up in the alpine, recent avalanche activity and the Parks danger rating of Considerable at treeline and alpine.

Excellent ski quality in the trees.

Mark Klassen
Mountain Guide