[MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain 3 March 07

Subject: [MCR] Hudson Bay Mountain 3 March 07
Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2007 16:21:19 -0800
Winds are very strong out of the south in the alpine today, and great amounts of snow are being moved. The winds were strong enough to shut the Smithers ski hill down. It is still cold above 1600 m. About 25 cm of recent snow are in the process of bonding, but still fail fairly easily. There is also a crust 70 cm down that produces hard, but clean and consistent shears - definitely something to watch for as the load on it increases. The big unknown right now is if and how much and to what elevation it will rain tonight and tomorrow. Rain on this snowpack will make it unstable very quickly. I would not trust anything once that happens. If the temps stay cool, watch out for widely distributed windslabs. Skiing quality was a mixed bag - some turns in nice powder, some in stiff windslab, some in moist snow.
--
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
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    www.bearmountaineering.ca