The Apprentice Ski Guide Exam spent April 5-8 in Glacier creek in the Purcell range.
We experienced generally mild temps with good travel and ski conditions from the 5th –7th. The weather was largely convective and deposited up to 30 cms of new snow. This was accompanied by moderate to strong winds that varied from SW –NW. This moved the new snow around and created some soft wind slabs at ridgeline and in lee features as well as added to the already significant cornices. These windslabs were one of our main avalanche concerns for the week. Our other concern was the February 10th persistant weak layer which we felt would be possible to trigger from shallow and/ or rocky areas, as well as with large triggers like cornice falls. Some whumphing was noted from shallow ridgeline and moraine areas indicating that the weak layer is still prone to failure. Coverage on the glaciers was quite good with the average snow depth being 350 cms but many areas had well over 400 cms. Many crevasses were well bridged and the deep snowpack areas felt stiff. We skied supported terrain up to 40 degrees and avoided overhead hazard such as cornices or large slopes particularly ones that had sun exposure. A warm front came in overnight on the 7th and the freezing levels spiked to 2800m on the 8th. It turned to spring almost instantly and made for very challenging ski conditions on all but the high north facing terrain. This also created an avalanche cycle up to size 2.5 on all but north aspects. The night of the 8th brought significant precipitation and although we didnt ski on the 9th one could assume that there was once again some good skiing to be found on moderate angle terrain away from overhead hazard. Jeff Relph Mountain Guide on behalf of the CMSG Apprentice Ski Guide exam
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