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ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued November 21st, 2013
Winter is here. Anywhere remotely mountainous in the Rockies and Columbias has a snowpack and some frozen water.
It seems that we have also just had our first widespread avalanche cycle of the winter season. Limited reports from the Rogers Pass and the Rockies Divide show fairly numerous avalanches in the size 2 range and a couple of size 3's. The peak of the activity seemed to be on Tuesday the 19th. There was also one skier triggered size 2 avalanche in Kananaskis country. www.facebook.com/KCPublicSafety
Ski travel sounds like it has been a bit of work going uphill in the new snow but lots of good turns going down at higher elevations. I hate to bang on the same old gong but it is movember. Like a lot of moustaches, the snowpack is still thin and unconsolidated. There is the usual stumps,rocks, and rhubarb to avoid at lower elevations and some recently naked, now scantily covered crevasses to avoid on the glaciers.
There has been lots of reports of high winds, so windslabs may be a concern for the near future. Given the forecasts, the snowpack should gain some strength over the next couple of days in most regions. However,it looks like it might get really warm on the east slope of the Rockies this weekend. All that storm snow, a chinook and some sun may mean some dramatic sloughing on the eastern climbing terrain and some weakening of the snowpack in the eastern skiing terrain.
Some scattered snow heights. Reports of around 80-120cms at 2000m in the Bugaboos, 125 cms at 1760m in the western Monashees, 130-160cm in the Rogers Pass alpine, 100cm at Bow summit.
Ice is forming all over the place. The big concern in most places would be overhead snow hazard but also expect some thin ice and remember that routes may be a bit more work than they were in their fat and "picked out" state last march.
This is the last ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the season. The National parks and Kananaskis Country have been putting out avalanche bulletins for awhile and the Canadian Avalanche Center is likely putting out its first bulletin of this winter tomorrow.
Follow these bulletins and feel free to send in observations if you see anything "interesting". Call your friendly neighborhood Visitor/public safety crew or contact the CAC public avalanche bulletin writers at forecaster@xxxxxxxxxxxx or 250-837-6405.
Thanks for tuning in and we wish you a safe and ecstatic winter!
Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide
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These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted
them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors,
omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time
and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain.
Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety.
Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning
trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in
continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
See http://informalex.org/subscribe.shtml#unsubscribe to remove your name from
this list.
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