I spent the day sking in the Spearhead. Clearing weather through the morning let us get into the Blackcomb backcountry. Don’t Swill looked very rocky and the regular entrance is now a 20m long slot, deep and barely wide enough for a snowboard. The crevasses below look extremely open. Not very appealing.
The guides notch seemed a good alternative. We may have been the first up it this year trenching through the waist deep facets and crusts. At the top of the Spearhead glacier, near ridge top there is 1.5 – 2.5m snow over glacier ice. Many crevasses still open everywhere. Our goal was to ski the northern (skiers L) Cham Cute. It was in perfect shape, probably the only “normal” feeling portion of this tour. The apron below the gully was so facetted I broke through to the rocks while turning in a thin locations. I could easily push my ski pole to ground in a couple of locations; measuring a 1m average pack..
We took the run right down to Decker Lake. Near the bottom, about 150m above Decker Lake, I cut around a steeper corner aggressively and the slope whumphed and started cracking but was too supported to fracture out.
The Decker Glaciers mid point at 2050m had 1.2m of snow. Lots of slots everywhere.
The ski routei south through Decker Creek and meadows was probably a mistake. The 60-80 cm deep pack collapsed under my skis a few times as we traveled through very visible boulders. Going up and over Disease Ridge (too gain Body Bag Bowl) probably would have been a better option.
The average snow coverage looks like what we normally have mid – late November. Most of the snow is in some stage of faceting. It seems like the warm temps and new snow during the past week is settling and also making the top layers denser. This may be creating a slightly more cohesive slab over the deeper looser snow and basal facets. A persistent weak layer that is not really avalanching yet. Almost reminds me of late February/early March snow during a dry winter on the eastern side of the Rockies. It is getting spooky to ski in steeper terrain on all high aspects, and the pack is not really deep enough below 1800m. I’m sure we will get an avalanche cycle during the next bigger storm, and many of the slopes that don’t go will be suspect for a while after.
Dave Sarkany
DSK Guiding
ACMG Ski Guide - Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
CAA Professional Member - Canadian Avalanche Association
SKGABC -Level 3 Sea Kayak Guide - Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC
604.938.4056
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