[MCR] Pantheon Range, Coast Mountains, April 11-17th, 2010

Just back from an excellent week of ski touring in the Pantheon Range of the Coast Mountains!  We had an entire week of clear, sunny weather which put this area into full spring skiing mode...a strong snowpack, good melt-freeze cycles and excellent travel conditions early in the day.  

 

Between 2.5 and 3m of snow at treeline and up to 4.5m of snow in the alpine provided good travel on the glaciers.  Digging in the upper 2m of the snowpack did not show any evidence of weak layers left over from the winter (however some persistent layers have been reported in nearby terrain) and large cornice failures were only triggering small slabs in the most recent storm snow 30-40cm down.  All the avalanches we observed were related to daytime heating and were either loose snow avalanches on steep solar aspects, or the result of cornice failures during the heat of the day. 

 

We were able to get into some fairly steep terrain with confidence and observed other parties also pushing into serious terrain with only minor surface sluffing.  Starting early and getting out of the hazardous terrain before the heat of the day caught up to us worked well for both travel conditions and to minimize the avalanche hazard.

 

A really fun week in a great location for spring skiing and mountaineering!
 

Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.conradjanzenguiding.com

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