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Skied around Commonwealth ck. today with a couple
of dozen other people. Not exactly a wilderness experience.
The north facing chutes above Tiyst Lake are skied
out and almost mogulled. We skied the gentle terrain on the south facing
avalanche path west of "Super slope" and had decent shallow powder skiing that
was suprisingly non sun affected. We then skied the Commonwealth loop from
the west to east and had good skiing after the 1st slope below the
col.
Temperatures rose during the day from -8c at 930am
at the road to -1c at 2pm at treeline. Clouds rolled in around 1200 so I
would assume the sun affect was minimal on all but the steep SE faces. Winds
were probably 50-70kms SW at the ridges all day.
The snowpack was pleasantly strong everywhere we
travelled and the snow surface has been beaten up enough by the wind, sun
and warm air that at present it isn't a concern as a future weak layer. The
avalanche danger did not increase signifigantly during the day as the forecasted
"hot" weather did not arrive.
The biggest hazard seemed to be other people as a
couple of pretty ugly places had ski tracks in them.
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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