Greetings,
I have just finished working at the Albert Icefields (it
lies just outside the SW corner of Glacier
Park) and I wanted to
pass on some info regarding the local conditions.
I came out Saturday evening (April 14) so it is a little
dated.
Locally conditions vary from very spring like below 1800m. –
meaning that you will either find a hard frozen crust, some nice corn, or total
wet slop depending on the time of day and aspect of the slope – to still
full on winter above the 2500m. level where you will find still 20-35cm. of dry
snow on most northerly aspects that is sitting on a strong crust that goes
pretty much to mountain top.
Strong winds Friday night and warmer temps produced wind
slabs in the alpine and at Ridgcrests at treeline – the other concern I
have is that in the Alpine (where I was anyway) there is a buried layer of
large stellar shaped snow crystals (just like the kind you used to cut out with
scissors) above the crust and down about 20-25cm. which was producing lots of
Whumpfs on Saturday – So pay attention if you are late season skiing on
some large steep N. facing alpine feature, these stellar layers can be somewhat
persistent and have the potential to propagate an avalanche over a large area.
Of course respect should also be given to any buried crust –
though the bond to the crust seemed quite good in most locations I checked –
it was still only shallowly buried at that time however.
Have a great spring everyone,
Cheers,
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide