Hello,
I went for a wander in the white today and found quite good ski conditions. The
surface snow is not dry, but skis well. I was pleasantly surprised!
We traveled in the spearhead/phalanx area primarily between 1900m and 2400m
with obscured skies, light winds, light snowfall, and temperatures hovering
around or just below 0°.
There is about a 100-130cm of storm snow sitting in the crust in the high
alpine, which is slightly upside down felt with a ski pole, but supports the
weight of a skier. Snowpack depths on the glaciers were over 320cm, ski
penetration is 10-20 cm and boot penetration is 60 cm. In some exposed areas
the snow has been scoured by wind almost to the crust.
We saw no natural avalanches, but saw snowballing out of steeper terrain. The
storm snow appeared to be bonding and settling well with our primary concerns
being cornice exposure and heavy sluff in steeper terrain.
Cheers
Jeff Van Driel
ACMG ski guide
_______________________________________________
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