[MCR] Mt. Hector - Rockies - March 25th, 2013

Brad White and myself skied up Mt. Hector
today, here is what we found:

Weather: Beautiful clear day
with no wind on the summit.  -19 at the parking lot at 6:45 am, warming
to-1 at 14:00.

Avalanche Activity: Evidence
of solar induced natural activity on the large south facing slopes on Mt.
Andromache that threaten the approach.  In addition, we saw a few
cornice failures that occurred within the last 5 days.  One of them
triggered a deep slab on Little Hector that was 1-1.5 m deep and ran well
onto the toe of the glacier crossing the standard ski line. (see picture
here).

Snowpack: Snow depths around
treeline were 140 cm.  On the lower glacier there was 2-3 of snow,
while on the final slopes to the summit, the depths varied from 50 to 100
cm's.  We had only one whumph in a thin spot around treeline, otherwise
no obvious signs of instability (cracking, whumphing fresh avalanches)
showing that the basal facets are slowly adjusting to the new load.  A
5-10cm thick sun crust on the lower approach slopes in the morning allowed
us to feel confident in the stability there this morning. 

Travel Conditions: Good skiing
on facetted windslabs was found below 3100m.  Between 3400m and 3100m
the snow was skiiable, but grabby.  Supportive snow the whole way
with 5 -10 cm ski pen.

Great spring day in the Rockies!

Ian Jackson
ACMG Aspirant Guide
Visitor Safety Technician
Banff, Yoho, Kootenay National Parks
www.parksmountainsafety.ca
www.parcsecuritemontagne.ca
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