Over the past few days I have been guiding at the Rogers Pass area. The
skiing conditions have been absolutely incredible. Yesterday we skied Little
Sifton, climbed up via Grizzly Shoulder and skied down via the upper and lower
Grizzly Bowl. In the higher alpine I noticed a weakness down 35cm which gave me
some concerns regarding stability of larger slopes, mostly near exposed ridges.
Today we skied towards Sapphire Col. Again skiing was absolutely five star,
deep and very light powder with ski penetration of 25cm. As soon as we reached
the alpine, I again observed this distinct weakness down 35cm. At elevation
2360m, aspect N, sheltered slope with 30 degr. incline I made a test snow
profile and stability tests. This profile and tests confirmed my concerns of the
present snowpack at Rogers Pass. Down 37cm easy compression tests with sudden
planer results (CTE4 SP), down 55cm lower moderate shear also with sudden planer
results (CTM13 SP), down 91cm moderate shear results with sudden planer shear
characteristics on decomposed surface hoar and down 135cm moderate to hard shear
results with sudden planer shear characteristics on decomposing surface hoar. At
1600 m elevation we reached a steep exposed slope, probing showed the distinct
weakness down 100cm. I decided that this slope is not stable enough to climb up
or ski down. It was time to pull the skins off and ski down without reaching the
actual goal of the day.
The snowpack I have found at Rogers Pass is classic
for this time of the year. Just because the snowpack in the alpine is anywhere
from 3 to 4 metres, it is still a young snowpack which had little time to
consolidate into a strong snowpack or to bond the many interfaces.
Of course
we can go skiing, enjoy the amazing powder and deep snowpack, but caution and
respect towards the rather young snowpack is very important.