jmckay

Skied to the observation site on the E side of Hudson Bay Mountain today. At 1100 hrs at the portal (1100 m), it was overcast, snowing lightly and 0 degrees. At 1500 m, it was -4 degrees and snowing. The visibility was marginal, but we could see several size 1.5 soft slabs out of steep NE facing and windloaded gullies. No large avalanches had run in this large and steep path. A snow profile confirmed that the snowpack is now at about 130 cm for this elevation. There are several instabilities in the 40-60 cm of recent storm snow. More worrisome is a deep instability, almost 100 cm down, where we found consistent easy to moderate shears, sudden planar, on facets on top of a decaying crust. We did not ski down the path. -- Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0 info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854 _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

I just returned from a few days up at Keith's Hut on the Duffey. Deb and I broke heavy trail up to the Hut (with the help of a couple of groups who caught up to us!) in 60+ cm of fresh snow, and set a couple of up tracks (the most work being up the N side of the ridge!) on Saturday. We spent all of our time on the Hut Ridge. Saturda and Sunday we noticed some wind effect in the alpine, but still excellent ski quality on both S and N aspects of the ridge. Little natural avalanche activity was noted apart from some loose surface sloughing throughout the weekend. Light to moderate winds from the south until Sunday afternoon. Later on Sunday and throughout Monday the breeze stiffened, with consistent S moderate to high winds causing scouring in the alpine and rapid blossoming of cornices. Of note, and some surprise, was a massive (sz 3.5) avalanche that occured Sunday night, sweeping down the moraines below the N face of Mt. Joffre and stepping down, in places, to the ground (as far as we could tell through the mist). It reached down to about 5000 ft (and may have even crossed the exit tracks leading to Cerise Ck), and was likely triggered by windloading on the upper Joffre ridge several thousand feet above. Ski quality yesterday (Monday) had worsened in the alpine from the wind but was still excellent below treeline. Stability is definitely worsening, especially with new snow (it was coming down hard again as we left and still blowing). Freezing levels yesterday evening were at about 1100 ft, and the icy little hill north of Whistler Village was strewn with tourist vehicles which caused us a 2 hr delay and forced us to use the 11:30 pm water taxi back to Bowen Island and our little son Rohan! Regards, Tom Wolfe _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

Just back from a work stint in the Monashee mountains west of Revelstoke. Over 140cm. of storm snow over the last week with storm snow shears tightening over the last 24-48hrs. Limited obs in the Alpine so not much to add there – lots of skiing at and below treeline. Even though storm snow shears continue to improve the overall characteristic of the snow over the Dec.26 crust (now down @170cm. in this area) is also changing as the storm snow settlement will increase the slab properties over this crust – the bond to the crust itself seems good for the most part but there are many places where it has a significant weak layer below the crust – in other words – hard to have any confidence in bigger or steeper/covnvex features for sure at this time. More snow on the way tomorrow!!! Cheers, Scott Davis Mountain Guide

Spent the weekend working at Callaghan Country Lodge. Saturday was really deep trail breaking, and almost too deep to ski. Today the snow settled significantly and made for much easier travel. Saw no recent natural avalanches (lots of mid storm rubble though). Could not ski cut any of the usual test slopes. At 5500' there was a moderate compression test result down 30cm and another moderate/hard down 50cm - both planar. All in snow of F and 4F density. At tree line I rated the hazard as Considerable. The Alpine was looking wind hammered and slabby, we got to 6500' turned around (due to not fun looking skiing) and skiied down in a protected pocket. The skiing in tree line is very excellent. Dave Sarkany, Ski Guide Callaghan Country Lodge

This was posted by a very dedicated skier whom I guided a few years ago. He is a smart and catious man who somehow found himself in an unlikely situation. We learn from others so if your starting out take ten and give it a read. Good read

I am sorry to say that an avalanche has claimed the life of a ski guide in the southern Rockies. Stability is poor throughout western Canada. There are almost no exceptions to this. Ski area skiing is suggested till the snow pack has time to adjust to the excessive load. This will take a couple weeks.

Skied to the observation site at 1500 m on the E side of Hudson Bay Mountain today. It is starting to look and feel like winter, but still bony and little snow in the trees. -6.0 at 1300 hrs at 1600 m. Winds moderate and gusty from the South. Moderate snow transport is starting to sculpt the alpine. HS ist still only 90-120 cm at this elevation. We observed no natural avalanches at all, not even in the steep cross-loaded gullies above the Right Twin Fall. The recent wind-transported snow reacts to ski cutting. Shallow snowpack areas are strongly facetted. Skiing quality in the protected lower gully was good. This is probably not so as soon as there is wind exposure. -- Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0 info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854 _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

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For fucks sake Chris now you owe me a beer for having to state the obvious. Try the same thing again but this time try it with a rock that has a reasonably sharp edge or plant your tool to the point it will never come out abd use the edge of a hammer or adze. I can't believe you used a board. You normally carry a 2x4 around climbing with you. They wonder why I drink! While we are on the subject you do owe me a beer so don't think you can leave my crib without paying up next time your up here.

Can you say “HIGH AVALANCHE HAZARD”. Good now say it again and again and again. We have had the first real westerly flowing storm in the Rockies and it has dumped 20 to 40 cm of new snow in the general divide area. Everything would be highly suspect right now. So ice climbers I will be seeing you at Louise or the Weeping Wall over the next couple days. Skiers I suggest shelling out for a ticket till this settles out which will be a few days. Please read all forcasts for your destination. I personally would be worried about big natural events running to valley bottom in the Rogers Pass area.

Update on Monashee mountains, The snow continues out here in the Monashee mountains with 70-80 cms. of storm snow over the last 3 days. It has been highly reactive to skier triggering and there was a natural avalanche cycle Tuesday from the alpine into below treeline terrain with a significant wind event yesterday afternoon with the passing of the cold front yesterday afternoon. Today they are calling for another 20 cm. of snow - The December 26th crust is 85-100cm. deep at this point and has seen a lot of recent loading so it may soon start to become reactive. In short the skiing is amazing but the hazard is quite high and the storm snow instabilities are deep enough now to produce significant avalanches - so be prudent in your run choice and be aware of overhead threat of larger terrain features that may produce large natural avalanche. Ski Safe, Scott Davis Mountain Guide Join Mary and Daisy as they try to climb Mt Everst. Go Daisy!! Go Mary!! Support Mary and Daisy at thier expedition site

Aaron Beardmore and I spent a recreational day climbing at Bear Spirit today. There are 3 flows of ice, with the ice quality varying from a fair bit of wet, aerated chandeliers to some good plastic ice. The mixed lines have the best ice and are in good nick. Light snow all day, with 5 cm of low density easy shovelling in my driveway before dinner tonight. 10 cm at Lake Louise ski hill today apparently, with good skiing reported. Just stay in-bounds, it's been touchy out there with several skier triggered avalanches in the Lake Louise backcountry the past few days. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide mark@alpinism.com www.alpinism.com _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

Just back from a week up at the Campbell Icefields Chalet north-east of Golden, B.C. Dec 31-Jan 7. A great place to spend new years. Quite a stormy week with 40-60cm of new snow throughout the week (35cm of which fell on the evening of Jan 5). Only 2 days of weather good enough to go explore in the high country (Jan 2 & 7), the rest of the days were spent close to treeline so we could see something. Fog, fog and more fog was the theme of the week... and snow! We had 2 skier controlled avalanches (size 1.0) on convex south facing alpine terrain during the snow and wind storm on the 5th, snow that had any wind effect at all was reacting very easily with 15-20 degree slopes cracking and moving slightly underfoot (some fractures travelling up to 15m). This reactivity settled out quickly and the snowpack on the 6th was considerably more stable. No natural activity was observed at all during the week. Wind effect was restricted to alpine terrain only. Deeper down in the snowpack (around 50cm from the surface) we found the mid December facet layer, which in this particular area was rounding out well and sheers were in the moderate range with a resistent fracture character (CTM 15 RP). The november facet/crust layer was present around 150cm from the surface with hard, sudden fractures present (CTH 23 RP on SC size 2.0). There was, on average, around 2m of snow on the ground at treeline, up to 220cm probed on the Campbell Icefields proper. We skied some rather committing terrain during the week but it was entirely on slopes that had previously avalanched during the Dec 24 event. We turned away from one large north facing slope at 2500m (around 37degrees) during the week due to the shears in the snowpack, lack of past natural activity on the slope and a rather committing kick turn on the slope over a rather large drop. In general we were cautious with our terrain decisions throughout the week if the slope had no evidence of previous natural activity. When we left on the 7th I was calling the avalanche danger C/M/L with caution in lee terrain. Ian Tomm Assistant Ski Guide Canadian Avalanche Association _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

At 1500 m on the E side of Hudson Bay Mountain it was -4.5 at noon. There was no precipitation and the wind was light from the south. 20 cm of snow have fallen since New Year's day. There was very little wind effect: the HS was 90 cm on the windward and 120 cm on the lee side. The persistent weak layers - facets and surface hoar - are now 50 to 55 cm down. They react consistently to shear tests. We observed no natural avalanches at all, but did not feel confident enough to enter steep open terrain. We felt several whumpfs that travelled tens of metres. -- Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0 info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854

Park Warden Lisa Paulson Looking to have her day made Looking Back towards Victoria and Huber

Today (Jan 7) I spent the day with several RAC instructors doing a training session. We went up towards Bow Hut just into the moraines towards the Little Crowfoot Glacier. At the parking lot it was scattered cloud, -8, 17 cm of storm snow from the previous couple of days, light NW winds at ridgetop with signs of previous significant wind transport at upper elevations. There was a suspicious lack of avalanche activity. There were several whumpfs noted heading up the trail, with one causing cracking on adjacent slopes as we entered the canyon. Further up the canyon one of the group stepped off the packed trail and propagated a size 1 slab above, 20-30 cm deep, 7 m wide and running 15 m downslope (photo). It was a storm snow slab with the failure layer being facets lying on the ground. We noted another larger size 1 in the moraines above our high point, possibly remotely triggered by another party in the vicinity. It occurred while we were digging a test profile (at treeline on a north aspect). In the profile there were no surprises: 40 cm of a variety of grains, 4 finger strength, lie atop 75 cm of facets and depth hoar, fist to 1 finger strength. Easy to moderate resistant planar shears at the storm snow interface, hard sudden planar shears on the facets. On return to the parking lot, on the west face of Observation Peak, we saw a skier triggered size 1 which seemed to have remotely triggered a large size 2. Alpine: Considerable, Treeline: Considerable, Below Treeline: Considerable where there is enough snow to overcome the ground roughness, Low elsewhere. We seem to be just reaching threshold depths below treeline now. Confidence is low and consequences high; there are lots of rocks to hit as you get dragged down by the swirling white vortex. Keep your head up and your feet on the ground Mark Klassen Mountain Guide mark@alpinism.com www.alpinism.com.

These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information. Skied up to the Lilly Glacier today with Jordy Shepherd, with the intent of doing the loop around to the Asulkan. High humidity, moderate winds and snow transport from today and previous days’ storm snow has established soft slabs of varying thickness (5 cm to 90 cm). We turned around at the base of the glacier due to low visibility, whumphing, shooting cracks, and we could hear avalanches running up in the alpine – stability was deteriorating quickly. We managed to cut a sz 1.0 during the descent above the large approach moraine; not surprising given the conditions. It slid on the 30-40 cm down storm interface then stepped down to the Dec 25 crust, but noteworthy was that it was able to propagate through a thin section of slab (maybe 2-3 cm thick), then over to another small convex roll and release it as well. Keep that in mind as you get near, some of those steeper moraine features at treeline and above. Stability: Alpine: Poor Treeline Fair Below Treeline: Moderate Cheers, Kirk Mauthner Full Asst. Guide Street Gang In Banff

Rogers pass / Pearly Rock Skied up to Pearly Rock with Lee Johnston today. The dump that we hoped for turned out to be a measly trickle of a few centimeters. However, there were moderate to strong winds throughout the day which helped build lots of thin soft slabs reactive to the skis. Ski cut a soft slab sz 1.5, running on recent storm snow. Moderate trailbreaking with fair to good skiing down -- the surface has firmed up a lot with the wind above treeline. Little whoomfing, but lots of cracking and little sloughs. The route up to Pearly Rock is tricky to do safely even with good visibility, and careful routefinding will still bring you onto one steep slope (the triangular moraine). Alpine -- Considerable (steep windloaded features are a bad idea right now) TL - Considerable BTL - Moderate Regards, Tom Wolfe Ass't Alpine Guide _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information. Proof of Global Warming

Happy New Year! Skied up Loop Brook to the Lilly for a quaint bivy below Sapphire Col on Jan 02/06. Lots of alder bashing and open creek crossings (bring a life jacket and rubber dingy, maybe we should have Swiftwater Rescue incorporated into the ski guide program if global warming continues...) lower down below the Lilly moraine feature. Lilly glacier easy to bypass on climbers right with broken ground in the middle and climbers right. Climbed the steep pitch to Sapphire Col in the morning with a 10 -15 cm of new sitting on the Dec 25 crust. Slab had not set up until near the top of the climb near a steep convex feature, which pulled out a 0.5 soft slab (ski cut (?) down 10cm, 15m wide and ran 20-30m), not really of any consequence but sporty in some regards. Excellent ski quality (30-40cm of storm) down beside the Dome, however whiteout conditions provided exc ellent opportunities for touchy feely snowplowing techniques and roped skiing fun! Ski quality decreases and becomes industrial below treeline with 10-15 cm of dust on crust. Also skied Lookout Notch to Asulkan on Jan 01. Approach to the Illisilly (practice slopes) looking very thin, with many rocks and moraine feature still poking out. Bowl below Lookout Notch has slid with last rain storm and was covered with a thin dusting providing "rodeo like" skiing conditions, avalanche path below is filled with many x-mas trees and hazards. Temps feeling very mild (-6.0 at 9:00pm on Jan 02 on Lilly below Sapphire Col) throughout stay at R.P. Cheers, Scott Grady Assistant Ski Guide CORRECTION Sorry Gang, Slots easy to get around on the Lilly on the other right, what I meant to say was the climbers LEFT. Also, good skiing at WH20 (nelson) with 30ish in the last 3 days! Cheers, Scott Grady Assistant Ski Guide These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

Skied the Lilly - Dome traverse today with fellow aspiring Ski Guides Lee Johnston and Ian Kirschner. Moderate trailbreaking up to the col and excellent fresh tracks down to the Asulkan. There is 30-50 cm of mainly unconsolidated snow on top of the Dec 25 rain crust now. Where wind affected (on our tour just below the col, both sides) there is a soft slab reactive to skis with fast, easy shears on the Dec 25 crust. This was a bit of a surprise since elsewhere we've noted that the new snow was bonding well to the crust. We didn't examine the interface carefully but there is probably some facetting responsible down there. We kicked off a SSL sz 1.5-2.0 on the steep roll on the north side of the col on the way down (40 cm deep, 50 m wide, ran about 100 m total) as the leader cautiously entered the slope -- not exactly a ski cut, not exactly a surprise either. A little lower (2350 m) there is little wind affect down to the valley bottom. Alp - Considerable Treeline - Considerable BTL - Moderate FAntastic skiing in the Pass -- tonight calls for a heavy dump which will mean a sharp increase in Avalanche Danger top to bottom. Regards, Tom Wolfe Ass't Alpine Guide

I am not to crazy about Kevin’s advice. If you are a building a house to last it is best to start with a good foundation. The folks you meet here may or may not be good teachers. If your female you can bet that there is a 99% chance they are just trying to get laid. Climbing is a sport not a game. Invest in a little instruction now and it will pay off later. My suggestion is to find a small independent operator. Large companies tend to pay their guides less and a lot of the money that you are spending goes into advertising and infrastructure not into the guide’s pocket. In Canada we only have one big mountaineering company actually two if we were to include western in Vancouver. They tend to change out their more seasoned guides with assistants every few years as they are less expensive and still produce a quality product. Of course this may not be possible, as I understand your concession system developed by the land managers. You may develop a closer relationship with a small independent. I would also suggest that he/she be members of the AMGA not that is any sure fire that you are getting the best guide available but at least there is a minimum standard.

Climbed in the Bow Falls area today. Strong westerly winds in the pm. I would guess it was howling on the Wapta. Overcast with only very light snowfall, -5 to -8c. Generally poor conditions in the Bow Falls area. Snow conditions on all the approach aprons were wildly variable and often spooky. Lots of the bigger aprons I avoided as they were fat and the consequences were low but ugly. The ice was HARD(felt like -30c ice) and even with lethally sharp picks I was having to pound like a caveman to get a stick and then of course had to yank like a fool to get them out. Not very aesthetic. It is possible to walk around the lake and up to the routes without skiis or snowshoes for now. The walking was better than the climbing. Larry Stanier Mountain Guide

Metal dome area, storm snow was transported on ridges up to 125cm with foot pen up to 95cm. Sledders spent the day digging their noisy machines out of the snow and making jumps! New snow has strong bonding (no naturals and no sled starts). Pit results: nw 1500m 38degree hs 205cm 126cm to wet grains. New snow consistent /r 1-2 1f, 25cm cte7 / 2 sp, 40cm cte7 +/2 sp, 55cm ctm14 /2 sp, 85cm cth28 /1sp. Snow temps are west coast - 0cm -4.6 10cm -1.8 gradually rising to +.4 100cm. Happy New snow year! Richard Haywood Jackie Mckay Metis /Mixed Blood from the Clan MacKay - First day ice climbing.

Spent the 31st /Jan 1st at Callaghan Country Lodge (about 25 km SW of Whistler) skiing in the tree line (4500- 5500'). At the 4500' (Lodge ) Wx station there was 210cm yesterday late afternoon. At the 5200' snow plot there was 3-4 meters of snow; there is 120 cm of snow over the Xmass crust (which is 5cm thick) and about a meter of wet snow below all this. The creeks at tree line are still open but starting to ice over. 1 natural size 1 avalanche on a Nw aspect slope at 5700', and start zones on similar aspects are reactive to ski cutting. The fractures are running only in the new snow. Ski penetration is 50cm and the skiing quality is excellent. It feels a bit more like winter! Dave Sarkany Ski Guide Callaghan Country Backcountry Lodge

Trashed to the 1500 m observation site on the E side of Hudson Bay Mountain today.Very low snow cover in the trees. 90 cm at 1500 m. Little wind effect in the alpine. No natural avalanches observed, but several whumpfs occurred. A profile at 1500 m in an E aspect showed 40 cm of recent snow above several strongly facetted crusts. There were consistent collapses on a facetted layer below a crust 50 cm down. There is well preserved surface hoar 45 cm down, but no shears occurred on it. The skiing quality was good where there was enough snow in the main path, which was infrequent. -- Christoph Dietzfelbinger Mountain Guide, Bear Mountaineering and Burnie Glacier Chalet Box 4222 Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada tel. 250-847-3351 fax: 250-847-2854 info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca _______________________________________________ These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.