From Sylvain Hebert:
Just spent 3 days ski guiding in the area adjacent and North of the Mt Revelstoke National Park boundary.
Excellent skiing found at treeline and below. Some wind slabs and wind effect observed at alpine elevations and near ridge tops at tree line.
Of note, a widespread surface hoar layer found on all aspects up to 2200m (we did not travel higher than this elevation) has now been covered by 2 cm of snow overnight. You will probably hear about this layer in the near future referred to as the Dec 10 or Dec 11 surface hoar layer.
The surface hoar crystals were generally large in size, up to 10mm (and bigger near valley bottoms). This layer will have to be kept in mind when it gets buried as it could become an extremely weak layer on which future slabs could slide on easily. The layer of snow below the surface hoar crystals is faceted and was sluffing easily while skiing steeper slopes. A thin suncrust was found on steep South facing slopes.
So the skiing is great right now but the facets/surface hoar combo will have to be watched carefully in the weeks to come.
We were rating the hazard at Low in the trees and Moderate at Treeline, with caution for windslab near ridges and areas of shallow snow (weak) in the Alpine.
Sledders were observed ripping it up (outside the National Park) on steep North and East faces at low Alpine elevations and below without any problems.
Enjoy the great conditions,
Sylvain Hebert
ACMG Ski Guide
Peter Tucker
Executive Director
B: +1.403.949.3587
M: +1.403.689.4324
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