| I guided a ski tour in the Healy Pass area today, March 13th. Good skiing off of the ridgeline about 1km east (towards Mt Bourgeau) of Healy Pass.
We found a snow depth of 220cm on a North-West ascpect at 7400 feet. A snow profile there revealed a lot of well bonded snow with and easy compression test producing a planar shear down 20 cm, this is at a new snow/old surface interface. A second planar shear occurred down 30 cm that was in the moderate range. Most concerning was the textbook "pop" that we found 65cm down. This was in the hard compression test range, but was an absolutely clean planar failure. We concluded this to be the same layer discussed in the Avalanche Hazard Forecast for Banff dated March 12. We also concluded that it was not the day ski any terrain steeper than 20 degrees in this area.
Happy trails,
Barry Blanchard Mountain Guide www.barryblanchard.ca www.yamnuska.com
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