Just finished a week at Kokanee Cabin, Dec 14-22.
Over a meter of snow fell during the week. The storm board had 80 cm on it at
one point, with
ski penetration up to my hips at times. Temps remained cool, mostly ranging
from -5 to -9
although on Dec 21 it dropped to -26 on our only clear day. Winds were light
early in the week,
then moderate and southerly Wed-Thurs.
The 80-100cm of storm snow overlies a 10 cm thick weak layer (4F to 1F-) of
rounding facets,
which in turn lies over a hard rain crust. This layer has not been reactive in
the Kokanee area,
although we were treating it with caution. Windslabs on the surface seemed to
be the main
concern late in the week.
An avalanche cycle occurred late Wednesday and into Thursday, soft windslabs 50
cm thick, size
1.5-2 and seemed to be predominately on north aspects in the alpine and SW
crossloaded
aspects in treeline areas. They did not seem to be stepping down to the facet
layer.
At the end of the week we were rating Danger at Considerable in the alpine,
Moderate at
treeline and Low below treeline. We were avoiding wind effected areas and not
exposing
ourselves to large features.
Mark Klassen
IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
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nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
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Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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