I just spent the past week skiing out of the Burnie Glacier Chalet in
NW British Columbia with family and friends.
The snowpack in the alpine is about 250 cm and ski quality ranged from
excellent to fair where wind affected. The midpack is well settled
with no significant stability concerns. Basal facets seem to be doing
nothing and are strong. It's shaping up to be another excellent
snowpack in the Howsons this winter.
The Dec 30 storm brought strong SW winds and less than 10 cm of snow
to the area, creating sastrugi and thin wind slabs in open terrain.
These wind slabs, which were our primary avalanche concern, produced
little in the way of natural avalanche activity (apart from in steep
unskiable terrain and small steep loaded pockets) and settled out
quickly producing no results in ski cutting the day after the storm.
Alpine avalanche hazard decreased from Considerable to Moderate
throughout the week.
We enjoyed a variety of tours from high alpine (Loft Glacier,
Solitaire Glacier) to treeline and BTL powder skiing (Lakehead Peak's
Ptarmigan runs, Tom George Mtn.) An excellent week in the mountains
and a great way to bring in the New Year.
Regards,
Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA
www.bearmountaineering.ca
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