[MCR] Southern Cariboos, Raft Mtn

Begin forwarded message:

From: Snowy Mountain Alpine Tours <snowymountain@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: December 10, 2011 6:01:32 PM PST

To: MCR <mcr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject: Southern Cariboos, Raft Mtn

Hi all,

I got a chance to ski on Raft Mountain today near Clearwater, BC.  I went up from km 17 on Rd 80. I found 150 cm of snow at treeline and made some observations of conditions there. There was strong evidence of recent wind events, and snow at treeline was wind hammered.

A couple of things were noteworthy; The surface hoar that formed this last week is 5 to 10 mm in size and is now buried by about a cm or two of fresh snow.This surface hoar is still in place and standing upright in all areas I saw today.There was no wind of note today as the snow fell. This surface hoar may become a layer of concern and it dates as buried Dec 10, 2011in the Southern Cariboos. The second thing of note was a rain crust buried about 35 cm on East aspects at 2000 meters elev.. This layer was laid down two weeks ago and it was found to be 5mm thick. It was easily able to support the overlying snow plus the weight of a skier or sled. This crust layer may be active later in the season, but for the time being, the snow above and below it are not showing signs of faceting or becoming less stable. The bond on this crust was strong in the areas I saw. This crust has prevented severe snow transport by wind at ridgetop.

Skiing was good in gladed North aspects. Trail breaking is 1/2 way to boot top, so it is easy to cover ground.

Happy Trails,

Stephen Ludwig, ACMG Ski Guide

Snowy Mountain Alpine Tours

P 250 674 2988

www.snowymountain.ca

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