Spent April 22-23 travelling and looking at some different snowpacks.
Drove from Jasper to Mackenzie, spending a day near Powder King
looking at some SW aspects above Pine Pass.
In general there have been good overnight temperature recoveries
until this morning (April 25) which meant things were freezing each
night. I saw no real signs of any significant activity on my travels.
(Mind you I could only see terrain from the road!)
There has been no signs of significant activity in the Red pass area
near Mt Robson. The south facing slopes in the burn at Moose Lake
showed some minor sluffing over the last few days, but nothing of
significance. The snowpack is melting quickly on the south sides but
there is still a lot 'of snow in the alpine.
Some minor sluffing on North aspects was noted near Mt Robson on the
24th of April.
No other signs of significant avalanches between Robson and Prince
George. (from what I could see) No signs of slabs on any aspects.
A strong melt freeze cycle is evident in the Pine Pass region.
(Powder King area north of Mackenzie) On the 23rd of April I went up
onto the SW slopes above Azzouzetta Lake to have a look. I had to
kick steps in the hard snow. Even SW aspects where just softening up
by 1300hrs, anything in the shade was still frozen. The long ridge
above Azzouzetta lake climbs very steeply and faces SW-WSW. There was
only some minor old activity noted on the entire ridge. The largest
wet sluff I saw was a size 1- 1.5 This ridge is known as the Murray range.
One old large slab was evident (from when I don't know) on a more
WSW aspect on a peak east of the Powder King pulloff.
Sledders have been climbing some of these steep gullies leading to
the ridge crest. They must have been there at the perfect time as
their tracks were visible but not punching in too deep. many of these
gullies are over 40-45 degrees.and take a straight line up to the ridge crest.
Much of this southerly area gets a lot of wind and the upper part is
quite rimed and wind blasted.
Driving home on the 24th I skied a bit around the old Mt. Robson
ranch and found a still well supported pack at 1400 hrs.
Things are still holding together in the areas I visited. However
with a warming trend today and the forecast for rain or showers
things can quickly change.
Peter Amann
Mountain Guide.
Peter Amann
pamann@xxxxxxxxxxxx
sled gully 3.jpg
Description: JPEG image
East of powder king.jpg
Description: JPEG image
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