Chad Rigby, Olivia Sofer, Carla Demyen and I skied in the rockies for the last couple of days. We had some great spring conditions particularly on the last 2 days with good overnight freezes. As a summary in the mornings we had a solidly frozen melt freeze crust which broke down in the afternoon below 6000ft. There was 3-10cm of new snow on north aspects over a hard surface. The isolated wind slabs from April 23rd were no longer reactive to skiers but I suspect it could be possible to trigger a small wind slab on a steep unsupported lee feature. Steep south & east facing slopes were running with loose wet snow early in the morning as the sun heated them up. There is significant potential for large cornice releases with day time heating and solar radiation. Several old slab avalanches were seen (from the last 48hrs) in steep/ extreme unsupported terrain on lee features to size 2. One old sz 3 deep slab realease could be seen in the Freshfield group on a 45 plus degree face, E aspect .
Divide Creek- April 23rd
We had a superficial overnight freeze with breakable crust in the lower valley. Strong to extreme E winds turned us around at 8500ft when we could not tell the difference between blowing snow and an avalanche. There were 20-50cm wind slabs on the upper glacier. Overall a challenging weather day with terrible skiing!
Cathedral Mountain- April 24th A strong overnight freeze with 2-3cm of new snow on the surface allowed for easy travel without ski crampons at lower elevations. With a clear morning the solar radiation was intense on steep S & SE aspects and there were numerous loose wet avalanches from extreme terrain to sz 1.5. We would recommend a very early start for this mountain on a clear day as there is overhead hazard from S & SE slopes until just below the glacier. Above 8500ft there were isolated 10-30cm windslabs in lee features.
We descended the N gully which had variable thin wind slabs. There is a short ice cliff that required a rappel. The skiing out the lower moraines was great with 5cm of dry snow that gradually became moist over a hard base. We were careful to stay in the supported and thick snowpack areas in this area. Below 6000ft the snowpack became isothermal in the afternoon and we stuck with the old ski tracks so we didn't break through into the wet snow.
We were impressed with the change of conditions from the day before as the conditions were excellent and the skiing was fun from top to bottom.
White Pyramid- April 25th Again a strong overnight freeze led to easy travel in the lower elevations. The moraines to 7000ft were rock hard and icy so ski crampons are potentially needed. There is overhead hazard from the east facing slopes and huge cornices so a very early start is recommended. We saw numerous loose wet avalanches to sz 2 but no slab avalanches. We hugged the NW facing side of the valley above 7500ft to minimize the exposure to overhead cornices. This ski tour was in great shape overall with fast travel and 3-10cm of cold snow on north aspects above 7000ft. We boot packed the upper ridge to the summit which was easy with minimal foot penetration. We were happy to have brought our ice axes for the summit ridge.
Have a great spring!
Kirsten
Kirsten Knechtel
Mountain Guide
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