| Yesterday, April 4, I attempted to get to Peyto Hut but had to turn back due to client illness. Today we went up the Chickadee Valley to Chimney Col and skied back down Chickadee.
Pretty warm both days, but today was the real cooker with a thin haze of cloud and the UV bouncing around like mad (no sign of the cloud cover and flurries that were forecast). The recent storm snow has settled to 5-10 cm on the crusts/old snow beneath. The surface was wet (creamed potatoes) from the col at 2700m, turning to warm butter at about 2500m. At 2100m and below just a few cm of moist snow starting to freeze up again at 3 pm, on hard melt freeze crusts beneath that held up to the heat all day.
Cornices are large. Surface wet snow sluffs to size 1.5 on solar aspects, larger avalanches heard but not seen.
Sheltered N aspects were staying dry. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide |