Spend the week of February 13 to 19 in the Esplanade Range (a small group
of mountains on the east slopes of the Selkirk's just north of Golden)
Received only 12 cm of storm snow throughout the week.
February 10th surface hoar is down 10-20 cm and the January 24th and 29th
surface hoar layers are down 25-35 cm. These layers are well preserved and
were found in most areas from below treeline right up to ridge tops. The
winds were calm throughout the week and as of Feb. 19th there was either no
slab or only very soft slabs above these layers. We only saw one natural
slab on a north aspect at 2300 m, but we were able to ski cut soft slabs
on steeper terrain (north facing terrain below treeline was the most
reactive). These slabs were generally small but they ran a long ways.
Latter in the week it warmed up and we saw extensive surface sluffing on
south aspects.
Not sure why we saw so little avalanche activity compared to the rest of
the Selkirk's, but likely it had to do with less storm snow and the calm
winds which resulted in little to no slabbing of the recent new snow. I
suspect that the surface hoar will become more reactive with the continued
warm temperatures, or just a bit more snow or wind.
Brian Webster
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
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