Skied up the
Asulkan valley April 17th to the base of the Cleaver yesterday
(below Sapphire Col). Poor
visibility and less than perfect ski conditions caused us to bail. Snowing 1 cm / hour when we left,
turning to rain in valley bottom downstream of the mousetrap.
The
freezing level lowered to about 1000m last night, and today (April 18th)
we skied up the Illecillewaet valley.
5 cm of low density new snow at the parking lot, turning to about 20cm
of new snow high on the Illecillewaet Glacier. Great morning weather turned to poor visibility near the
cornice pitch on the approach to Youngs Peak. Turned around and had a great run down the Illecillewaet
Glacier. Good skiing right to
valley bottom, although it was getting moist. We crossed paths with about 20 people in 6 different parties
over the course of the day.
Only a few loose
snow avalanches observed in the new snow, to size 1.5.
Jordy
Shepherd
ACMG /
IFMGA Mountain Guide
Revelstoke,
BC
www.PeakAlpine.com