ski conditions in the Maligne Lake area.
The snowpack at the parking lot at Maligne lake is about 10cm of weak
recrystallized snow.
I started to notice an ice crust near the ground at about 1700 metres
which kept your bases off the ground.
At 2200 metres the snowpack is about 35cm. I never probed more than
40cm in my travels up to about 2350m. A soft slab and some wind
affected surface snow was observed above treeline but the recent cold
temperatures have faceted the upper slab making is skiable.
There was no evidence of any recent avalanche activity. The skiing at
and above treeline is OK and the basal crust provides some support
and good glide.
The fire road is in pretty good shape for descending, considering the
depth, and there has been enough traffic to make getting down reasonable.
I would not want to ski down anywhere below 1800 metres on anything
but the fire road right now, due to the shallow pack and visible
ground features.
With care and common sense there are a few turns to enjoy, and it is
nice to slowly get back into winter mode.
Peter Amann
Peter Amann
Mountain Guiding
www.incentre.net/pamann/
