Great spring skiing conditions on Mt. Sparrowhawk yesterday. -2C at the trailhead at 7AM (with +4C in Canmore at 6AM) made for a good overnight refreeze and we only carried our skis for the first 10 min along the summer trail until we found continuous snow coverage in the forest.
In spite of the warm temperatures in town over the last few days, the 10 – 15 cm of new snow from last Saturday had not entirely gone through the melt-refreeze cycle in the higher elevations yet, which made for some breakable crust higher up on the predominantly western aspects of the route. Below 2700m the skiing was excellent until about 1850m at which elevation we started to sink into the isothermal snow in the thinner spots in the woods.
We didn’t have any avalanche concerns except on the steep, thinly covered, southern aspect summit slope, where the recent new snow was starting to get moist enough to react as small, slow moving loose snow avalanches which could be of consequence given the steepness and exposure of that slope.
Surprising to me was how good the snow coverage still is in the Spray Lakes area (see attached shot skiing by Reed’s Pinnacle). Looks promising for those few still out on skis this time of year!
Cheers,
Jorg Wilz
Mountain Guide (ACMG / VDBS / IFMGA)
OnTop ltd.
www.ontopmountaineering.com
+1 403 678 2717 or 1-800-506-7177
