Just to add some observations from the Asulkan drainage and a few comments on my thoughts regarding the Nov.8/2010 crust.
Trail access still requires walking a couple of short sections (if your prudent), so don’t bother putting your skis on in the parking lot – wait until you reach the railway grade. Fast track otherwise.
Snowpack depths similar to Connaught Ck., but felt a little more settled with less skiing through to buried obstacles than what I experienced my last day in Connaught (Nov.18) – limited wind effect from the last storm systems has left some great ski quality in the alpine.
When I was skiing by the Asulkan hut yesterday (Nov.19) the crew staying there mentioned they had skier triggered(no involvement) a size 2 slab avalanche on the steeper slopes that are skiers right of the hut (@2100m.) – they said it started in the storm snow down about 40cmcs. and propagated about 10 m. wide, eventually stepping down to the Nov. 8 crust @ 80cms. Down.
Yesterday was foggy and observations up high were limited( we stayed below the hut) – today’s sunshine however highlighted a large size 2.5-3.0 slab avalanche that had released from the permanent snowfield on the east face of Dome Peak (not the Dome Glacier). It looked from a distance to be at least a meter deep and had propagated the full width of the@ 40 degree snowfield feature (@ 100-150m.). Hard to say if it ran on the raincrust interface or not, but it was certainly deep enough, and looked to have occurred near the end of the storm as the crown is still very evident. The avalanche swept over the approach route to Sapphire Col, coming to a halt at about the same elevation as the Cleaver (@ 500m. vertical) – our view of the deposit was obscured by the moraine.
The Nov.8 crust covers all terrain to @ 2500m. after which it is reported to peter out (I haven’t made it that high). At Treeline and Below Treeline elevations it is close enough to the ground that the crust continuity is generally broken by ground roughness – the Alpine is a different story and this layer should be a reason to pause before skiing any steep smooth alpine features. This layer interface formed after an early Nov. system that had high freezing levels followed by a snowfall of @ 15-20cms, which unfortunately sat for way to long before being buried by the snowstorms of last week. The result of which was a low density layer above the crust – good skiing at the time, BUT. Last week we had two major systems and a bunch of dribs and drabs that added @ 60 cms. Of load over the lower density snow – this resulted in a slab of @ 80cms over the crust. That is deep enough to get my attention!
As the recent storm snow was initially quite low density, with limited wind affect, the resulting slab has been quite soft(again great skiing!) – things may change as this recent snow begins to settle and become more cohesive, so I would urge folks to keep it real until you have a better handle on this issue. I was impressed to see everyone that ascended the “Steps of Paradise” on Youngs peak today, stopped and skied down from the bench at the base of the headwall - I imagine everyone was thoroughly impressed by the slab they could see across the valley on the “Dome”!
In short there is some great skiing out there with lots of people hitting it, just remember – “Sticks and Stones CAN BREAK YOUR BONES!”
If you are wondering where some of those stones might be hiding - I have attached a couple of photos from Balu Pass and looking up 8812 Bowl taken Nov.3 – didn’t look any different before the last storms came in!
Cheers,
Scott Davis
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
