Skied up the Asulkan valley today. Conditions at parking
lot: 0 deg. with 8 cms moist new snow on thin crust from yesterday.
Crust disappeared a short way up. We were first up the drainage since last
weekend. Trailbreaking was shared by a few keen hut renters. Ski
pen/trailbreaking was moderate to heavy with 20 cms halfway up,
boottop to knee deep above Mousetrap. Temp -3 at 1600M. Snowpack
depth just above Mousetrap: 175cms. Good two meter snowpack in Tree
Triangle. Temp -7 at Asulkan Hut.
Sky was mostly overcast with minor breaks, snowing off
and on all day, up to 2cm/hr in PM. Some fog and poor vis. Light to
Moderate winds in afternoon. A brief opening at Hut allowed us to see up toward
Asulkan Pass. Alpine showed extremely variable distribution of last weeks snow
due to the high winds, with some ridges and high spots blown clean to
gravel, and lees and hollows very deep. There was buried slab on ridge just
below hut, an indicator of slab conditions in the alpine.
Limited observations showed no sign of avalanches from
last week or currently. At treeline, the upper half of snowpack was mostly
unconsolidated, lower half dense. Ski conditions were good, a bit more
moist than normal. Didn't do a profile, but ski cuts, hand shears and pole tests
indicated reasonable stability in the sheltered location of the treed
glades, no significant issues. I suspect different in the alpine. Quite a
coastal feel to the snowpack for November. About 50 cms more snow than usual at
1800M for early season.
Russell Lybarger
SG.