I went for a ski yesterday in the Maligne area to re-acquaint myself
with the shallow Rockies snowpack.
Overall travel was pretty good below treeline and very good in the
alpine due to the hard slabs in all open terrain. The depth of the
snowpack at and above treeline ranged from about 60cm to 120cm.
It certainly looked like the winds had been very strong during the
last weather event. The hard slabs seen in the alpine seemed well
bridged in the terrain but I would be very suspect of areas where the
snowpack is shallow.
Looks like people have been skiing these hard slabs and there are
tracks leading to some steeper terrain features. The potential for
large slabs triggered from afar will be something to consider as the
snow has variable distribution from this last wind event.
Also noted a slab to ground on a big slide path across from the
Watchtower trail head. This large path last ran in 1989 taking large
trees out the whole way down. The slab I saw was fresh in the last
few days, and ran on a steep solar face amongst rocky slabs. It was a
small size 2. Though not really big it shows that the weakness is
prevalent on all aspects.
The skiing was not bad below treeline, tried to find some cruiser
lines to keep the tips up.
I avoided getting near any avalanche terrain and watched what was above me.
The present snow surface will be easy to identify once it is buried
as it will be the one that has pine needles, branches or cones all
over it from treeline and down.
Peter Amann
Mountain Guide
pamann@xxxxxxxxxxxx
maligne jan19_resize.jpg
Description: JPEG image
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