[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass

Hi all,

I headed up the Asulkan Valley yesterday for my first tour of the season. The snowpack tapers greatly with elevation; really boney below 1600m and pretty nicely winter above. Recent winds have left their mark with huge variability in snow amounts over the November rain crust - anywhere from 30 to 80cm down above 1800m yesterday. All this has certainly changed with the passage of the storm overnight but...

Talking with people who have ventured up the Connaught drainage over the past few weeks and as recently as yesterday, I got the impression that the November crust wasn't particularly reactive. In fact, multiple compression tests results in the Balu Pass area yesterday were resistant to fail or just plain non-reactive. Most of the concern was centred around near-surface slabs created by recent winds.

However, in the less traveled Asulkan drainage we dug a profile at 2100m on a NE aspect just below the hut. Our tests pooped easily in a 2cm layer of large rotten crystals over the crust 40cm down. This result is dramatically different from what has been seen elsewhere in the pass which might suggest that this interface is quite variable - or at least different from the Connaught creek drainage. Probably worth investigating this layer as we start skiing in areas that have limited data and/or use so far this season.

All in all a great day of early season skiing and the ski out the Asulkan was just fine.