Hi all,
Friends and I went for an adventurous early season ski
mission up the South fork or Glacier creek Yesterday. The Glacier creek
forest service road was in good shape and with the low snow coverage
below tree line we were able to drive to 1600m, about 1.5km past the
Jumbo Pass parking lot.
We "skied" between 1600m and 2750m on a
run called "Cauldron Glacier East" which is part of RK Heliskiing
terrain . Snow coverage was meager at best below tree line and at tree
line with 25cm at 1600m slowly increasing to 60cm at 2100m. Coverage on
the glacier was better ranging from 100cm to 140cm with elevation. There
was up to 30 cm of recent storm snow which was evenly distributed
higher up. This new snow was overlying a firm crust which provided good
skiing & travel conditions above 2100m. Snow profiles on North
aspects in the alpine produced no significant results. That being said
we noticed some natural slab avalanche activity in the new snow out of
extreme unsupported terrain to size 2.5. This appeared to have happened
recently perhaps during the last storm cycle.
Our main concern
was the low snow coverage. It took more time than usual to get up and
down safely through the lower elevation terrain. Bushwhacking on and off
skis was at time required! Once on the glacier, we took a conservative
line and avoided tension zones or
crevassed areas. We roped up for parts of the ascent and
use the probe to help locate best crevasse bridges. Seems like the
hot/dry weather from last summer has resulted in less firn snow and more
open crevasses than usual on the local glaciers.
All in all a fun way to start the season but definitely not without extra hazards!
Cheers,
David Lussier
mountain guide
www.summitmountainguides.com 
