[MCR] Observation sub peak area, Banff National Park, HWY 93 north.

Went out for a little traverse in the Sub Observation peak area today and found some interesting conditions.  We started the morning with an intense little blizzard that dropped upwards of 10 cm's of new snow on the 50+/- cm's that have already accumulated over the past week.  The snow tapered off with the arrival of the cold front in the early morning, but the winds contuniued blowing moderate, and at times gusting strong from the North for the rest of the day. 

With this shift in wind and lots of new snow to move around, most of the open areas above tree line were quickley becoming wind affected and we found many areas that we chose to avoid, especially more of the solar (East through West) aspects that apeared to be getting loaded quicker and had a buried sun crust.  We chose to stick to well supported terrain, ridges and areas with no overhead hazard, like all those new ripe looking cornices.  

Throughout the day we continued to see many signs that the snowpack was unstable. On the South-East side of Observation Peak a new cornice fall had produced a fresh size 2.5 avalanche that had steeped down 1m on what looked an old sun crust,  but what was more interesting was a really health size 2.5 that it triggerd sympathetically right beside it. This deeper slide looked closer to 1.5 to 2m deep and again likely on some old Cr. 

On our drive out we noticed that 2 South-West facing slopes west of Cirque peak had also avalanched size 2 naturally while we had been out on our tour, these slides looked like they had slid closer to the ground but still with crowns of around 1.5-2m. 

All in all it seemed like a great day to be mellow and take in the views.  Right now with the recent new load, strong reverse wind and strong solar affect on the snowpack, the deeper presistant weak layers that are harder to predict seem to be awake again in this area.  Eventually these will calm down, but for now I think it's a great time to play it safe and stick to standard routes and use extra caution on any solar aspects in this area. 

Have fun, 

Craig McGee
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
(403) 497-4211

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