[MCR] Valhallas Ice Creek Lodge Feb 1-8

 

Skied  February 1 – 8 at Ice Creek Lodge, located near the NW boundary of Valhalla Provincial Park, approximately 45kms south of Nakusp.

 

 We arrived to 40 cms of  snow on top of the jan 26^th interface of surface hoar ( SH ), facets (FCs )  and  buried wind affected snow. Snowpack tests showed two consistent moderate resistant planar shears, down 30 and 40cms. The jan 26^th SH was hard to distinguish in most test locations, being mixed in with the FCs below and preserved stellars above. No results from ski cutting, or by scrubbing from many loose natural sluffs that came out of steep terrain up to size 1.5 . Of note is that much of the buried SH was reported to have formed needle shaped in this area, suspect this accounts in part for its lack of reactivity early on. We did find the classic striated blade form of SH in boulder fields, and here it was very reactive, cracking remotely off mushrooms, up to 10m away from a passing skier.

 The first few days were clear calm and cold, and needled SH developed above 2100m, size 2 – 4mm. A thin suncrust ( SC ) formed on steep south aspects.

 The second half of the week saw 35cm of new snow, with moderate to strong winds from the SE, then SW. Widespread softslab ( SSL ) development at treeline ( TL ) and alpine ( ALP ), and intense loading at ridgetops. Daytime high temps –8 deg. We avoided the ALP then, due to obvious stability and visibility limitations. Avoiding slab in the TL zone, good skiing.  Snow depth 220cm at 2000m. 

 Yesterday winds were blowing really hard up high, and swinging around from all directions at TL. Lots of transport of the remaining loose snow. Choppering out I saw the first natural slab activity of the week, 50cm deep, from high lee features, running down narrow gullies to the valley floor.

 Certainly the new snow loading and wind, and a forecast of more with rising temps has raised the avalanche danger. We may now also see action on the 26^th interface at Ice Creek, as this area is now receiving the threshold load levels that other areas have been experiencing.

 

 Be Good,

 

  Joel McBurney, SG

  Nelson, BC

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