| Spent the last day of 2014 on the Little Sifton traverse, up Grizzly Shoulder and down Hermit. We went over the Little Sifton col but did not ascend Little Sifton peak.
No sign of recent avalanche activity on the tour, although there was evidence of several large slides in the alpine that were probably a few days old. Of note there had been a large avalanche that ran off the east face of the ridge separating Hermit from the Grizzly area. This ran over the traverse from the Hermit moraines to the exit glades between Hermit and Puff Daddy. It made us feel a bit less exposed on that traverse as a portion of the overhead hazard had run.
We did not see any critical signs of instability on our tour, and there were no critical weather factors yesterday (no new snow, cold temperatures, no wind). The solar radiation felt warm but did not seem to be causing instability. However, we did not dig into the snow so cannot make a comment on the reactivity of the surface hoar layer that was buried in mid-December. Reports are that it is of spotty distribution in this zone but reactive where it is found.
There is a variety of wind effect in the alpine with a non-reactive windslab on descent from the col. This wind effect seems to be softening with the cold temperatures and the skiing was fine.
The Grizzly Shoulder uptrack is its usual icy, steep, switchbacking nightmare and the alders in the glades are still problematic. Good skiing in the forest.
If anyone finds a pair of black Julbo googles in the info centre or info centre parking lot they could be my Christmas present to myself...they went missing somewhere around there! Reward offered.
Mark Klassen
ACMG-IFMGA Mountain Guide
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