Went for a ski tour today in the Evening Ridge and White Queen areas
near the Whitewater Ski Resort. I hiked up the south face then over the
top of Evening Ridge and skied down an east aspect (The Nose). I then
crossed Humming Bird Pass and went up the west ridge of White Queen.
Ski quality was excellent, enough carry to stay off the crust that
formed after the last Pineapple Express. Trail breaking, on the other
hand was a chore. My goal was the summit of White Queen, but I only
went half way. I ran out of steam and time due to the boot-top trail
breaking.
The ski quality on the run down the south face of White Queen was also
excellent. The sun made a brief appearance around 4PM which was long
enough to moisten the snow surface on exposed aspects even as high as
2000m. With the forecast warm, sunny weather on the way, I don't think
the skiing on the south aspects will be as good as it was today.
It was spooky not seeing any natural avalanche activity, even after all
the recent new snow. The Pineapple crust is apparently bridging the
lower weaknesses. It was up to 20cm thick on the aspects I poked around
on. I did though, experience a whumph from deep in the snow pack as I
was topping out on Evening Ridge. A sleeping Giant?
On my way down, I ski cut some smaller convex rolls to see how the snow
would react. The only reaction I got was some minor sluffing. The new
snow hasn't slabbed up enough yet for any propagation. Watch out for it
as it settles in the next few days.
The whumph I experienced indicated to me that there are still some
instabilities in the snow pack. I chose my lines conservatively, both
up and down, to avoid large, open slopes, convexities and gullies.
Without going big, I still had a great day of skiing.
Play safely out there,
Craig Hollinger
ACMG Apprentice Ski Guide.
_______________________________________________
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