[MCR] Purcells/Bugs conditions

I toured up above the Bugaboo Lodge again today on S+ SE slopes from 1500 to 2250m. It was obscured all day , snowing 1 cm/hr, temps 0 to -5 and no wind.  There is from 30 to 50cm. settled storm snow on the Nov.28 surface.   The bottom half of the storm snow has settled in to a four finger plus slab, which produces easy shears on the 28th layer on well preserved 5-6 mm surface hoar. There is another easy storm shear 10cm. down, an uneven collapse.

There was no whumpfing or cracking where I skied.

 

Settling continues of course with the warm temps and settling cones around the younger larches are 60-80cm. high.

 

I probed quite a bit and the snowpack under the recent storm remains quite strong.

 

I couldn't see in to the alpine, so don't know if anything has been moving yet.

 

Skiing was like silk with a 40cm. ski pen.

 

Dave Cochrane

Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Surprise Pass, Lake Louise

Hi

Guided a Surprise Pass trip today.  Ski quality in the alpine was almost as good as it gets in the Rockies.  Very little wind effect in the recent storm snow.

Very light winds, in the alpine today.  Light snow fall all day.

Pit results from numerous aspects on South and North West.  Elevation range 2500m-2350m, snowpack depth 90-110cm,  

15 cms of a very soft storm snow slab sits on a 3-5 millimetre surface hoar layer which was reactive to compression tests CTE(10) Sudden Collapse results on North West Aspect and CTE(10) Broken on South.  North West Aspect. had slightly more wind effect then South. This layer may become more of an issue with added wind effect and load.  Very uniform mid to lower snow pack.  No results on rain crust which is down 60cm.

Good confidence in the snowpack today.

Jonny Simms

ACMG/UIAGM Mountain Guide

[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Connaught Ck. Dec.2/2012

Since things have changed with the recent storms I thought it worthy of an update on Connaught Ck.

 

Since I was last here a few days ago there has accumulated @ 40cms of recent storm snow over Wednesdays interface of suncrusts etc.

 

I was in the Ursus Minor Trees area today with numerous other keeners, the only ski cut results I had on Wednesday’s interface, was on a small steeper slope with a well developed suncrust (South aspect 2000m.) where I managed to release a small slab 40cms deep. Enough to give me pause if I was on a similar feature of larger size and or consequence.

 

Weather today: light snow in the morning picked up to moderate intensity by noon (1-2cms/hour) with limited visibility above treeline, and though the winds were generally light most of the day they definitely increased later in the afternoon with moderate to strong gusts from the West transporting snow at ridgecrest features at TL and above elevations (also some valley winds in Connaught Ck. itself.

 

Avalanches activity: aside from the above mentioned ski cut result – there was an audible avalanche that ran off the North Aspect of Cheops but the light was too poor to say exactly where and how big it was.

 

Travel Conditions: if you step off the beaten track expect to encounter 30-40cms ski penetration – skiing wise it was pretty darn good out there today with cooler temps than Saturday and lighter surface snow. I would expect more wind effect on exposed features tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] Polar Circus - Nov. 30th

This is a few days old now, but on Friday Nov. 30th, myself and a friend climbed Polar Circus. 

 

Route Conditions: The route was in good, although wet conditions.  Not much evidence of previous ascents, and lots of snow covered ice.  The Pencil pitch is formed, but is still quite skinny with flowing water visible inside.  We decided to walk around it.

 

Snow/ Avalanche Conditions: We found 40- 50 cm of snow on the slope turning the pencil, and didn't note any shears, whumphing, cracking or other signs of instability.  It seemed like there had been very little wind in this area yet this year, so the snowpack felt relatively uniform with not much in the way of hard slab development. However, this could change quickly with new snow/ increased winds. 

 

There was old avalanche debris in the gully between the Pencil and the upper tiers that made for firm walking and was covered by ~ 5 cm of snow indicating there had been some avalanche activity in the bowls above earlier this season.

 

It's been snowing of and on this weekend in Lake Louise, and I'd imagine the avalanche hazard in that area has risen. 

 

Stay safe.

 

Ian Jackson

ACMG Aspirant Guide

 

 

 

 

[MCR] Kootenay Fire Break

Up at the fire break east of the Mt. Stanley parking lot today with an AST 2 group for Yamnuska. Variable height of snow from about 45 cm at the parking elevation to about 80 cm at 1800 m.  There were some reactive shears in the recent storm snow down about 15 cm from the surface; other than that no significant results from numerous compression tests and 1 rutschblock. The snowpack was remarkably supportive; good skiing at the upper elevations and we were motivated to be quite careful near the highway elevation. Very mild temps (0 to minus 2) and snowing lightly all day. We did not observe any avalanches.

 

Play safe...

James Blench IFMGA

[MCR] Rockies, Sinatra Falls, Barrier Dam Seeps

An interesting day in the Kananaskis today, Dec 1st. The Nakiska ridgetop weather station told the story at 6 am, it was -2 C up there and -15 C down in Canmore where I had to scrape hard to get the frost off of my windshield. When we got to the Galatea parking lot it was above 0 C and the snow was moist. Moist snow all the way to Sinatra Falls where the sun peaked out and started dollops of snow falling from the steep rockwalls. There was pinwheeling happening down both sides of drainage, given the huge amount of mountain over our heads we opted to turn tail and skedaddle. I didn't expect to see a sun and heat avalanche hazard there today. There are windslabs sitting at the bottom of the route and there is enough snow there to avalanche. Our walking away coincided with a thick low cloud cover blotting out the sun and stopping the pinwheeling, of course, but the snow remained moist.

Back at Barrier Dam it was well below zero, dry snow and good ice on the seeps there. We salvaged some climbing.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com

Sinatra Falls Dec 1:

[MCR] Purcells/Bugaboos conditions

Yesterday , I was ski touring in Bugaboo creek near Bugaboo Lodge, from 1500 to 2350 m on south and SE slopes.

The 48 hour storm snow was from 20 to 40 cm low density, and was settling quickly due to  warm temps from +1 to -5. The Nov. 28 surface of 5-6 mm SH, stellars and some small facets was buried with an average of 30 cm. HST. At the time there was no cracking or whumphing.

 

There were intense showers snowing up to S3 and with the occasional burst of intense graupel.

 

Later in the day here it warmed up to +3 continued to snow lightly with wet heavy flakes.

 

Super fun skiing yesterday morning.

 

Dave Cochrane

Mountain Guide