[MCR] Mt. Hector - Rockies - March 25th, 2013

Brad White and myself skied up Mt. Hector today, here is what we found:

Weather: Beautiful clear day with no wind on the summit.  -19 at the parking lot at 6:45 am, warming to-1 at 14:00.

Avalanche Activity: Evidence of solar induced natural activity on the large south facing slopes on Mt. Andromache that threaten the approach.  In addition, we saw a few cornice failures that occurred within the last 5 days.  One of them triggered a deep slab on Little Hector that was 1-1.5 m deep and ran well onto the toe of the glacier crossing the standard ski line. (see picture here).

Snowpack: Snow depths around treeline were 140 cm.  On the lower glacier there was 2-3 of snow, while on the final slopes to the summit, the depths varied from 50 to 100 cm's.  We had only one whumph in a thin spot around treeline, otherwise no obvious signs of instability (cracking, whumphing fresh avalanches) showing that the basal facets are slowly adjusting to the new load.  A 5-10cm thick sun crust on the lower approach slopes in the morning allowed us to feel confident in the stability there this morning.

Travel Conditions: Good skiing on facetted windslabs was found below 3100m.  Between 3400m and 3100m the snow was skiiable, but grabby.  Supportive snow the whole way with 5 -10 cm ski pen.

Great spring day in the Rockies!

Ian Jackson
ACMG Aspirant Guide
Visitor Safety Technician
Banff, Yoho, Kootenay National Parks
www.parksmountainsafety.ca
www.parcsecuritemontagne.ca