Finally dug the skis out from under the building debris today. At the
ski hill parking lot at 1300, it was -4.5 under clear skies and light NE
winds. Those winds were definitely moderate in the alpine and were busy
making hard slab and sastrugi. The usual shallow snowpack on the prairie
has an old melt-freeze crust and lots of facetting under that. I checked
out the natural avalanche in Little Simpson's Gulch that Aaron reported
on the 1st. This was a big event. The fracture line is about 300 m wide
and up to 1.5 m thick. The debris ran all the way to the bottom of
Little Simpson's Gulch. The skier's right side, which gets skied more
frequently, has not run. I would be very careful there until conditions
improve. It was -9 degrees and blowing out of the NE at ridgetop. Lots
of snow transport in the high ranges to the West. The skiing quality was
marginal at best.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
IFMGA/ UIAGM Mountain Guide - Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351/ fax 250-847-2854
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.bearmountaineering.ca
_______________________________________________
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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