I spent the last 3 days guiding a group North of Revelstoke National Park.
We found fun skiing conditions on all aspects between 2300 and 2000m. 20cm of low density snow sitting on a crust made for some sweet turns.
Surface hoar crystals to 12mm in size were found undisturbed at ridge tops near 2300m.
Ski quality deteriorates drastically below 2000m as this was the rain/snow line during the last stormy period a few days ago.
There is about 2 metres of generally well settled snow at 2150m. Compression tests did not produce results on the Nov 9 crust buried 120cm down. Compression tests were in the moderate range 20cm down on the crust.
We avoided big convex unsupported features and stayed well away from shallow windward areas.
We observed sledders highmarking steep and shallow terrain on North and West aspects with no results.
Only one large fracture line was observed in the National Park on a NW aspect below a rock band at about 2500m. It looked a few days old and released naturally. Otherwise, a few small sluffs to size 1 came out of steep south face areas recently.
As the next storm periods arrive (hopefully soon), keep the potentially weak "surface hoar/facets/crust combo" in mind during your next outings.
Take care,
Sylvain Hebert
ACMG Ski Guide
250-814-3700