[MCR] Lily/ Dome glaciers, Rogers Pass, Jan. 9th & 11th, 2015

I spent the last few days skiing in the Selkirks. Overall conditions were thinner than normal for this time of year before with many alders/ bumps below tree line and crevasses/ sags visible on the glaciers. Despite this, we found excellent skiing on N through E aspects. We heard reports of suncrust on S-W aspects and avoided these areas. Here are a few specifics from each day:

Lily/ Dome loop - Jan. 9th 

• There was a 150 - 180 cm snowpack in Loop Brook below the Lily glacier.
• The Dec. 18th facet/ surface hoar/ crust combo was down 50-80 cm's and giving moderate sudden planar results in compression tests. The crust disappeared around 2250 m elevation and this layer was not as prominent at higher elevations.
• Surface snow was wind effected on the Lily glacier.
• The Lily glacier had a thin and variable snowpack (80 -300+ cm's) and was more broken than I had seen before (see attached photo). We were happy to have a rope and glacier travel gear with us.
  

Dome glacier - Jan. 11th

• Settled dry snow with no wind effect made for excellent skiing.
• Dec. 18th was down 80-100 cm's.
• Snowpack depths of 2-3 m were less variable than the Lily side, but multiple sags were still visible at the top of the roll on the Dome glacier.
• We observed new surface hoar growing at all elevations today. This may become a layer to watch in the future.

We didn't see any new natural avalanche activity over the two days. Given the test results and structure of the Dec. 18th weak layer, we stuck to lower angle and supported terrain in the treeline elevation band (1800-2200m) where it seemed to be most reactive. 

Great skiing to be had out there, but a nasty and atypical weak layer for the Selkirks lurking below.

Cheers

Ian Jackson

ACMG Mountain Guide

Lily Glacier.jpg
Description: JPEG image

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