[MCR] Frisby Creek, Monashee Mountains, April 11-18, 2011

Spent the last week guiding a ski camp with James Vickers in Frisby Creek.  We had cool temperatures and excellent mid-winter powder conditions all week with 75cm of new snow in camp (1500m) throughout the week and an estimated 120-140cm of new snow in the alpine.  The most intense squall brought just over 30cm in under four hours while we were on the uptrack and made for some epic mid-day skiing on Saturday!

 

Yesterday the skies cleared and daytime freezing levels rose to about 1800m.  As of this morning all solar aspects except for steeper due north facing terrain had some form of sun crust on it, however we still had excellent skiing in the trees down to 1500m on due N aspects.  Our warmest temperatures of the week occurred today as we flew out in the early afternoon.  Corn skiing still seemed to a few days away at this point but getting closer.

 

Our main avalanche concerns on N aspects were for slab avalanches within the recent storm snow on steep wind loaded terrain in the alpine or on steep convex rolls.  These layers were bonding well over the course of a day or two, however with all the new snow we stuck to well supported terrain throughout the week and minimized our exposure to large slopes and cornices. 

On S aspects we were concerned about daytime heating as well as the various buried sun crusts which continued to provide some large settlements.  We did not see any slab avalanches on S aspects but we treated them with a lot of caution sticking to moderate angled terrain with no exposure to larger slopes.

   

350cm+ of snow on the ground at 1500m and significantly more than this on the glaciers which allowed for good travel on the ice with little use of the rope, and excellent skiing on lines that have not been easily accessible for the past several years. 

 

A really fun week in a beautiful place for spring skiing!

 

Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
View trip photos at www.banffmountainguides.com

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