[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Connaught Ck.

I spent the last 2 days skiing around the Connaught Ck. area in Rogers Pass and figured it was worthy of an update.

 

First off, the Nov.7^th Surface hoar/suncrust interface was buried about 10-15cms by Mondays fluffy snowfall. This low density snow lacked the stiffness and depth to create any issues so far, but has done a good job of preserving this layer as the snowfall came in with little or no wind effect to disturb it before being buried.

 

Other than that, there were lots (and I mean LOTS!) of people out enjoying the mostly sunny skies of Tuesday and somewhat fewer folks skiing under the cloudy weather of today. This has resulted in a significant amount of tracks in the popular lines (Balu Pass, Bruins Bowl etc.) as well as some less frequented places such as STS couloir and Nicki’s Notch (both steep North facing lines off Cheops Pk.). The other side affect has been that the trail out is getting Faster and Faster while the snow cover over the rocks is getting Thinner and Thinner.

 

As mentioned by Greg Golovach in his post, steeper southerly slopes did form a thin breakable suncrust during last week’s nice weather – this was evident on the skiers left lines on Bruins Pass as well as Ursus Minor trees – fortunately if you moved farther skiers right on Bruins it was no problem nor was it a problem on slopes under 30 degrees. Something to remember as everyone will likely be heading to the Ursus Trees given the weather outlook for the next few days.

 

What avalanche activity I saw was limited to a shallow size 1 soft snow slab off the far skier right side of Balu Pass (possibly natural) and what looked like skier triggered size 1.0 windslabs in STS couloirs.

 

This could of course change quite quickly with the snowfall that started this afternoon and the additional load forecasted over the next few days.

 

Have fun out there and remember, if all else fails – LEAN BACK!

 

Cheers,

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

 

 

 

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