[MCR] Rogers Pass west side

We skied off McGill Shoulder yesterday and saw a significantly deeper snowpack there than we did at similar elevations in Connaught Creek the day before.

About 65 cm of storm snow and about 130 cm total depth at 1600 m. Dec 8 surface hoar was below that and faceted snow to the ground. Although there is a lot of weak snow there are no significant slab layers yet so not many signs of instability and no avalanches observed (poor visibility though).

It will need wind transported snow on the surface or settlement in the storm snow to create slabs and cause the weak layers to fail. Both wind and settlement were beginning to happen yesterday.

Mark Klassen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Banff-Lake Louise, Canada

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