I spent the last 3 days skiing with friends in the Whistler backcountry based out of the Himmelsbach Hut, making it as far as Overlord Mountain.
Snow depths were variable, 100cm at Flute/Oboe col (1850m), 90cm at Singing Pass (1700m), and 175cm on Whirlwind Glacier (2300m). The early November crust was around 1cm thick and buried between 35-60cm at these locations. A thicker crust was found down 55-105cm at these locations and remained well consolidated down to the ground. Many rocky areas such as the moraines on the way to Whirlwind had as little as 10cm of snow. Definately still early season conditions, so stick to slopes with smooth surfaces under the snow if you don't want to hit any rocks.
In the alpine we were surprised by the lack of wind effect encountered between the hut and Overlord, which seemed to disappear 100m below the peaks. We found fantastic skiing in facetted powder on Overlord Glacier, Whirlwind Glacier, and Banana Chute on Mt Fissile. The worst wind effect encountered was between Flute and Oboe with a mix of breakable/supportable crust and sastrugi to 30cm from the outflow winds. With the winds encountered today I suspect the skiing conditions have deteriorated in the alpine.
Temperatures were unseasonably cold, -27 deg outside the hut this
morning at 8:30am. Winds up to around 40km/hr from the North near Lesser
Flute this morning.
The early November crust provided excellent step kicking on the SW aspect of Mt Fissile (Banana Chute approach), the best travel we'd ever encountered.
One size 1.5-2 natural slab avalanche observed on a SSW aspect in steep terrain near Mt Pattison around 2200m from the past few days, suspect triggered by wind loading on the early November crust. Isolated windslabs were observed, but relatively easy to detour such as the convex roll at the top of Banana Chute.
Crevasses were generally obvious except near ridge-tops, where moderate wind effects were observed. Specifically I'm thinking of the NE side of the Fissile/Whirlwind col. where it was difficult to tell the difference between crevasses and wind pillows.
A note on passing the rockband west of Overlord Mountain as shown as the normal route on Baldwin's map: Last time I rappelled down here I remembered thinking it looked relatively easy to scramble up. This is definately NOT the case, it was very tricky in ski boots and I was relieved when my buddy through me a handline to help me up. It looked like there might be some easier options further to the west.
Alex Geary (ACMG Assistant Ski Guide & Assistant Rock Guide)
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