Selkrik Mountains - Rogers
Pass - Asulkan Drainage Dec.8-07
I did a trip up the Dome Glacier on Sunday Dec.8 along with
a parking lot full of other people under clear skies and cold temps (-15.0C in
the parking lot).
There was about 5-15cm. of new snow over the recent rain
crust from last week in the valley bottoms and this amount increased to 20-30cm.
at treeline just before the crust petered out as I climbed into the Alpine
elevations.
The loose surface snow was sluffing on the crust in steep
terrain but the snow was not stiff enough yet to produce a slab over the crust.
In the Alpine I could find no evidence of a rain crust and aside from the skier
triggered avalanche in the bowl above Avalanche Crest I saw nothing but loose
snow sluffing in the steep terrain that everyone seemed to be skiing (see
photos).
Lots of wind affect on Youngs peak but otherwise not much
noticed on the Dome. (see photo)
The avalanche in Avalanche Crest bowl occurred on Saturday
as a group was touring below the smaller moraine feature (in the foreground of
the larger avalanche) that they triggered from a distance away. This was followed
by a larger release farther up the slope on a larger south facing moraine
feature at the same time (see photos). The avalanche was reported to have
released on a surface hoar/suncrust interface that was buried on November 24th.
This interface was quite variable and the suncrust on steep south/southwest apects
will be quite variable dependent on the incline of the slope (meaning it will
be on steeper features and not so likely on lower angled ones), and is definitely
something to keep in mind over the next while especially in larger alpine
features – the avalanche reported above was 50-80cm. thick and on a S-SW
aspect.
People are definitely not giving the snowpack much time to
settle between storms before skiing very steep and large features – not a
habit to emulate if you want to keep at this game for long – consider more
moderate lines to get a sense of things before cutting loose on the big stuff
and at least ski one at a time (I saw lots of groups skiing steep lines together
this week) to limit consequences should something go awry. Sorry for the
preaching but I felt I had to say something (see the photos of the dome –
the super steep convex roll on the climbers right of the picture was skied on
Saturday before any tracks were even on the more moderate line to the climbers
left).
One other thing, several cars were broken into (including
mine) on Sunday at the Illicilewaet parking lot – so be aware and keep
your wallet with you at all times (glad that I did)!
We had a trace of fluffy low density snow in Revy today.
Cheers,
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide
