A Parks Canada Visitor Safety group spent the last 4 days in the Clachnacudainn Icefields of Mt Revelstoke National Park. During this time, we saw (or didn't see) several days of poor visibility with one day of bluebird skies. On the clear day, Inverness Peaks and Mt Coursier were ascended and skied from their respective summits.
Snowpack: The snowpack on the glaciers is in excess of 4m with only the largest of crevasses still exhibiting some sagging bridges. Soft storm slabs formed in the alpine and at tree-line on Saturday when 15-20cm of snow fell with moderate SW winds. These were settling out rapidly with the mild temperatures and becoming stubborn to trigger today. The snowpack below the storm layer was very well-settled, a typical Spring scenario, and we had no concerns of deeper weak layers in this region. On northern aspects, skiing was dry powder to 1800m, moist below this elevation.
Avalanches: Solar aspects were continually spitting out loose moist to wet avalanches to size 2 when the sun did come out, especially in the heat of the day. At the peak of the precipitation and wind event yesterday, several loose avalanches were observed from N aspects, but this had settled out this morning.
This is a fine place for the keen skiers out there that haven't had their fill of winter. There was some foresight 100 years ago when they made this a park... Happy 100th Birthday, Mt Revelstoke!
Parks Canada Visitor Safety
Mt Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks
