In the past week I have been traveling in and out of bounds around
KHMR as well as Rogers Pass. As usual the storms don't usually drop
as much in the Dogtooth region, however, they have been rather
fruitful this past week.
The Kickinghorse slackcountry has seen relatively minimal traffic to
the norm. Backcountry skiers and Avy crews in bounds have been
triggering avalanches at a regular rate. With even the odd burial
and significant surprise. The past couple of days the winds and
warmer temps have stiffened up the alpine and treeline zones
considerable along with strong lee loading.
Today below treeline on a windward SW slope at aprox 2200m today,
large whumps were felt and heard at a regular occurrence. The layer
the seemed to be causing this drop in the snowpack was aprox 70cm
down. Upon testing the layers, down 38cm Compression test Moderate
13, resistant planner, which was the most recent storm snow. And
down 70cm Compression test Moderate 15, sudden collapse well into the
facets from December.
Basically, the crew of very experienced ski mountaineers and guides
that I was skiing with was seriously concerned that we were not going
to make the Bad Sweater Party tonight if we skied anything steeper
than about 25 degrees.
There are very serious issues in the snowpack right now everywhere in
the Interior which will take some time to heal, however these
persistent week layers will more than likely be haunting us for the
rest of the winter. It would seem that is the winter to take it easy
and think very hard about the more committing lines.
Be smart and live to ski another winter.
Rich Marshall
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in
continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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