Well I finally recovered enough from the flu bug to wander
up Connaught creek today with Greg Johnson. We
aimed our early season sites on Balu
Pass.
Happy to say a couple from Revy made the early start and put
a nice track in up the valley saving us old guys (well me anyway) from laboring
up the drainage – they were breaking what looked to be 15-20cms in the valley
bottom, that had accumulated over the older tracks – I am not sure if
anyone was up there yesterday (Sat.) but there was definitely traffic on Friday.
The temps were cool with light winds and snow showers off and on all day.
Once you broke out of the trees, the total depth of snow
down low looked to be around 50cms and was composed of 20-30cms recent storm
snow over a strong rain crust. We did notice one reasonably recent small dry
avalanche that had run fast and far (to valley bottom) off the steep North
facing slopes of Cheops – it looked to be a result of wind loading at the
high ridge crests (things looked windier in the high alpine that what we experienced
during the day)
At the Base of the headwall just below Balu Pass
we took a minute to check out the bonding of the recent storm snow to the aforementioned
crust which was now down 60-100cms from the surface. Compression tests yielded
hard results just above the crust with a clean shear but it didn’t seem
to want to leap off the crust for sure – hand shears nearby also produced
a clean shear on the crust but my impression was that it was stuck reasonably
well – though I was not keen to test my theory on some steep convex roll!
We continued above the Pass (elevation 2070m.) and up the
ridge that ascends North, towards 8812 Pk., and noticed that the crust had disappeared
– so from this limited observation (and Greg’s conversation with
the local Avalanche forecasters) it appears that the crust peters out around
2000m and is likely not an issue above that elevation.
The snowpack felt well settled adding some confidence that
we would not sink into the rocks if we stayed away from scoured ridges –
the ski quality was actually quite good – okay it was great and everyone
out there was having fun (we saw the aforementioned couple and another group of
3).
Keep in mind of course that all those rocks that were
visible not to long ago are now just buried – we stuck to lower angled
terrain not so much as to limit avalanche risk as to keep from having to edge
to hard and dig into something close to the surface.
It felt great to get out for a walk in the mountains –
but I definitely still feel as though I need a bit more time and info to gain
some confidence in the snowpack – though I have to say it appears to be
off to a good start.
Remember if all else fails – LEAN BACK,
Cheers,
Scott Davis
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
