jmckay

On a short trip to the Howsons today, we found 50 cm HS at the lodge (1020 m) and 60 to 80 at 1200 m. There is evidence of a recent significant cycle that is now obscured by the strong winds prevailing over the weekend. We could not get to any fracture lines, but suspect that last week's snow slid on the thick hard crust below. A snow profile at 1165 m, SW aspect, showed 38 cm of soft cold snow sitting on a hard crust that extends from ground to 45 cm. There is a strong gradient and the soft snow is facetting. There was almost continuous whumpfing and cracking when travelling at these low elevations. Exposed areas show much wind effect out of the NW. Skiing is marginal at best. Air temperature was -7 degrees. The upper glaciers still show much ice, but look skiable. -- 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.

We went ski touring in Commonwealth Creek (Little Commonwealth Traverse) on Sunday Dec 4. Looks like the area has seen a fair bit of travel lately, inspite of the fact that the snow depth in the trees is rather skimpy (around 40 – 60cm of faceted snow) and hitting rocks and deadfall is unavoidable. Temps between -16C (at departure at 10AM) warming up to -10C at return to the car at 3PM with the front approaching, which brought about 5 cm 12 hour snow to Canmore today. Snow pack in the alpine and at tree line was very wind affected and we managed to kick off some very small, hard wind slabs, which went on facets above of a melt freeze crust. The melt-freeze crust itself is loosing strength due to faceting with the cool temps lately. However, no recent naturals observed. Let’s hope for more snow! Jorg Wilz Mountain Guide IFMGA / UIAGM

Also shows how you can turn a major fuck up to your advantage. If either yates or simpson new what they were doing you would never have heard of either of them.

Here's a bit of an update from the last few days doing some ice around Jasper. Dec 3rd -Tangle Falls good climbing, gets the sun for these colder days. Good beginner training area. The small falls to the right look good as well. Dec 4th. Edge of the World. Filled in quite a bit this week. Upper pitch has some good variations, lower pitch is a bit wet on the right but good pro (easy 3). Large block above the lower pitch uses a pin and a thread to build anchor to rap to the bottom. This may be iced up enough in the next week or so to build an ice anchor on top. Dec 4pm climbed BS canyon. The one main short grade 2-3 pitch takes good pro to protect stepping over the toilet bowl feature formed behind the lower part of the pitch. A bit wet in places but building fast. Both of the last 2 climbs have improved considerably over this last week. Peter. Peter Amann Mountain Guiding Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0 www.incentre.net/pamann pamann@incentre.net _______________________________________________ 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.

After the Haffner rescue the NP wardens flew over to retrieve the gear from the night before. Turns out that Boston rescue members of some sort had taken it upon themselves to haul all the equipment out. When the somewhat haggard wardens showed up expecting a half days hard labour they were surprised and gratefull to find that all thier equipment was down at the road.

The list of injuries are quite extensive. The same wardens who worked all night were called out of bed a few hours later to heli-sling a young man out of Haffner Creek in Kootney. Broken ankle, pretty minor compared to the night before. While they were waiting to chopper out the patient another climber decides to take advantage of the fact that the rescue service is there and takes a four meter whipper and decks. Fortunately he managed to get up , dust off and walk away. Thats enough for one year folks! Now stop doing that-!! (Sorry you will have to get out your calculators and translate 4 meters into whatever primitive length calculating system ancient cultures use)

First field day for avalanche control on the E slope of Hudson Bay Mountain. Clear and -14 at 1100 m at 1000 hrs, no snow. Broken, light NW wind, -11 degrees at 1230 hrs at 1550 m. Snow profile on SE aspect at 1550 m showed 43 cm of snow. Sequence of crust and soft facetted layers. Resistant planar shears were near ground and below first crust 13 cm down, both in large facets. There is a strong temperature gradient and some depth hoar is visible. Hudson Bay Mountain is below threshold for skiing and for avalanches. There was some old debris in the North Kathlyn Path. The ice in Glacier Gulch seems well formed and safe for climbing. There are reports that it is thin in places. Snow is expected starting tonight. 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

Seems that it was a slip on a piece of terrain with a bad/awkward landing. Avy conditions are on the rise but not to bad at the moment.

It would seem that a group from your neck of the woods had an accident on Guinness Gully in Field, B.C. late yesterday. Not a lot for details. Climbers from the Seattle rescue group what ever that means? The Park wardens received the call around 4:30 pm. To late for the standard heli-sling rescue so they hauled up a stretcher rope and what have you. Patient suffered minor injuries but of a nature that required immobilization. Patient on the way to Calgary 4:30 am and doing fine. Nobody dead if that puts minds at ease.

Up to K country yesterday Did the Commonweath loop, and was surprised once again with the strength of the Rockies snow pack. Up to 10 cm of mainly low densisity sits atop of a variety of crusts depending on aspect.The minor exception to this was along ridge top where winds had distributed small isolated soft slabs into the lee features. The crusts below the storm snow are variable in depth but consistly support skiing. They support so well that we found it often quicker in the alpine to boot hike than to try and fight to put a skin track in on the hard crust.Ski quality up high was great with dust on crust. Down in the trees it was survival. Weather observations Sky : broken Wind : calm in AM / light with mod gusts in PM from the S Temps : low -17 / high -15 HS : Varied greatly with treeline being on average 60cm , but in the alpine up to180+cm in lee features precip : nil Profile 7000' NE Asp 27degrees HS 80cm surface instabilites in the top 20-30cm from last couple of storms- below well settled pack NO results with tests / be aware of buried pockets of wind slab in shallow features Avalanche Obs : Surface sluffing in steep terrain Stability Alpine: fair treeline :good below treeline : good Early season hazards exist at treeline and below. Be aware of rocks and stumps

Got back from a great little day trip that I've never done. Skied to the back of Sherbrook lake, then headed west towards Mt Ogden (crossed at the south end close to the shore - not comfortable enough to ski across the middle). At the NW end of the lake we skied up the major slide path with a little bit of bashing to get to just above treeline which opened up into a great selection of terrain with various aspects. Something for everyone. Up to 10cm fresh with little to no wind affect of overlying a supportive crust of various nature. Great turns! Information for the Day Sky : Overcast Temps : high -12 / low -17 (no inversion here) Wind : light southerly AM / calm PM Precip : S -1 High point around 8000' HS varying from 70 to 125cm Profile Time 1330 7200' on an East asp. of 32 degrees HS 120cm Rain crust is down 63cm Compression Test Hard (24 and 29) down 65 just below the rain crust in a slighly faceted layer.The shear failed cleanly but with resistance. Of note was the lack of depth hoar at the ground. Impressive. Stability alpine - fair to good treeline - good Below treeline - good Early season hazards still exist in the trees with some facetting which is allowing you to contact stumps and rocks. Darcy Chilton ACMG Ski guide

Up Whistler Creek yesterday with RAC course. (Maligne Road closed) Still generally shallow 20-30 at 5700ft in the trees. No signs of wind since before storm which gave about 20cm. Creek bed shallow and rocky but skiable (good trail now!) Watch for open water, rocky and quite a bit of new deadfall in the creek. No signs of any recent activity on N aspects of marmot or S/E on Indian ridge. Did a test profile at 2050m, NE aspect, 65cm, first open roll near treeline. Found Pencil to knife windslab down 20cm (yellow stained from wind) It is about 5 cm thick. We were getting CT8 just below this in facets, and a CT20 at 53cm, just above the old MF layer close to ground, which is quickly deteriorating We had a RB score of 3 on the same interface down 20cm. Travel not great, very willowy to tree line. expect better travel in alpine but suspect instabilities on old wind loaded features. Caution certainly advised. Still marginal skiing below 2000m, barely threshold except where wind loaded. The alders and willows continue to grow.... Peter Alpine: suspect fair to poor treeline: fair Below treeline: threshold/fair Peter Amann Mountain Guiding Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0 www.incentre.net/pamann pamann@incentre.net _______________________________________________ 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.

Well as you all know lots more snow over the weekend. did some climbing in Field on Saturday. conditions looked good and a lot more like winter. But as you all know lots more snow maybe up to 15 cm over friday night. We had aimed for twister but a party had got there before us. Instead we headed up to the right on 3 pitches of mixed terrain starting at the top of the first pitch of that route. The protection was good when found and a small selection of cams was enough with a small rack of screws. The second pitch a bit thin finished at the top of the thick ice on twisted. The last pitch short but serious traverses in on a narrow ledge to a steep step of not rock getting on to a short curtain. Above the climbing is nice hopping from blob to blob and calming down as you hit the plastic sheet at the end. 4 double raps to the ground. Some sign previous travel was notice on the third pitch in the form of an old angle, and a cam is now fixed on the first pitch. Over all the grade....not sure maybe M6 M7- with a bit of an R rating in places and just a little more head spacey at the top getting on to the final ice but never really hard. Would appreciate beta if any have beta on this lines history. An awesome outing for sure. No significant avalanche activity was noticed during the day except a big sluff on the descent but i'm sure that is changing in Field in general as you are reading this. Today brought some friends to evan-Thomas Creek. Chantilly falls has yet to really form needs more cold temps and like the stream it is running. Moonlight, Snowline and2 low are in fine climbing shape as well a mixed line has appeared 200m north of 2 low and the line left of moonlight might form almost to the ground. Patrick Delaney _________________________________________________________________ Scan and help eliminate destructive viruses from your inbound and outbound e-mail and attachments. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&..._MSNIS_Taglines Start enjoying all the benefits of MSN® Premium right now and get the first two months FREE*. _______________________________________________ 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.

Well since Glacier Park isn't updating their info I figured I better let people what is going on in Rogers Pass I was up Aslkan valley toady and there is between 20-25cm. of recent storm snow (from Friday aan Saturday night) - temps are cool and look like they will be that way for a while. In the am it was snowing lightly but the clouds lifted and left some very softly lit skies. There was little wind affect observed in the Alpine and the only avalanche I saw was a size 1 loose snow sluff that ran down the far climbers right side of the steep slopes just below Sapphire Col (where everyone climbs up. Other than that I observed many smiling faces out there. Cheers, Scott Davis Mountain 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.

to this area to make the skiing reasonable--about 10 cm overall, but thinner where the wind had got to it. You can ski this thing in its entirety now without doing much damage at all to your skis. The recent storm snow is deposited on top of an amazingly sturdy temperature crust -- I couldn't pound my handle of my ski pole through it, so I left it at that. This is on all aspects and elevations we visited. The slope up to the Haig-Roberson col is covered with snow and made for reasonable step-kicking. En route, we checked out the little bowl that contains a few ice climbs halfway up French creek on the east side of the drainage (I believe at least one has been done by Owens & Walsh). The ice is in fine form -- there are several lines up there right now, including some mixed potential. The ski back down to the valley needs more snow to be really worthwhile, and probably wouldn't be all that great even then. Amazing wildlife viewing -- we say a family of three moose and a family of three goats (mamas, papas, babies)! 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 week of work on the Parkway, here's what we saw... Nov 18 - Balfour Wall - Able to set up 5 ropes. Minimal snow on approach. Nov 19 - 5/7/0 - No snow on approach. First pitch climbed on right hand side with half of the pillar being open, running water. This pitch was unclimbable when we got back to the base. Rest of route in good shape with exception of large chunks of ice and some rocks coming down the climbers right hand side (10 to 15 metres from climbing line) from melting ice/running water. Nov 20 - "Bullshit Canyon" - No ice, pure drytooling. Minimal snow with the creek being just barely frozen in places. Nov 21 - Bow Falls - Minimal snow around lake (lots of ice on trail though). Route is small right now with it being a solid WI4. Very dry and brittle. No cornice. Gorby Falls was also climbed and reported as wet and soft ice for the crux with some brittle dinnerplates on the approach ice. Cornice on left hand side of route looked quite stable at the time. Another group went back to Balfour and did not climb the right hand pillars after lunch as it was heating up too much. Nov 22 - Two O'clock Falls - Again no snow on approach and wet and soft. Melt out was also climbed and reported as in good shape with some running water in spots, easy to avoid. Route was rapped from a tree about 150m lookers left of top of route to avoid streams of water on the route. Nov 23 - Haffner - Coming along nicely. Temperature inversion taking place as all trees were rime coated and -9 temperature was recorded. Other observations - Curtain Call has fallen down, as has the routes above La Tabernac. Couldn't see the bottom but looked like parts of Tabernac had crashed too!. Minimum temperature all week were -6 with maximums being +7. Polar Circus looked good with the second last pitch looking like the crux. Weeping Wall was falling apart. Basically anything that was south facing was getting torched. Shades of Beauty looked good. Observed numerous point releases on south aspects (Mt. Wilson) as well as NE aspects (Mt. Jimmy Simpson). Murchison looked like solid WI5. On behalf of Stevie B, Grant M and Mike S Cheers Mike Stuart ACMG Assistant Alpine Guide #1-730 3ST Canmore, AB T1W 2J6 T: 403 609 8454 E: m_stuart@telus.net _______________________________________________ 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.

Guiding on the route yesterday. Freezing temps all day, valley fog in the am. The route is involved and complicated right now due to a lack of avalanches that usually fill up the gulley. There is a new WI 4 pitch below the keyhole pitch that is usually buried in snow (fun climbing). Keyhole pitch is all ice and great climbing, the pullover onto talus held in place by a dinner tray slab of slate is sporty. Upper ice is wet in numerous places an the last pitch is pushing the upper range of WI 5. We didn't get the last 20 m due to running out of time. Strange to say but the route could profit from an avalanche, I'm sure its on its way. Happy trails Barry Blanchard _______________________________________________ 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.

Here is what I have found in the last week of being in the mountains around revelstoke. Sapphire col today (nov 21), valley fog to about 1500m then high overcast above that. Light to moderate west winds. -1 at parking lot @ 0915 (1300m). -0.1 at 2700m @ 1430 (col). No moist snow observed today. High cloud kept out most solar radiation in that area. Above 2300m there exists a rather industrial temperature crust from the previous days melt freeze cycles due to temperature inversion. Skiable yet uninviting….. below 2300m, ski quality was fair to good with ski penetration about 15 cm (surface snow faceting). ski quality deteriorating below about 1650m due to poor coverage. Snowpack height on glacier 175, below 1650m 50cm to 20cm at 1300m. upper snowpack has settled drastically in the last several days due to warm temperatures. No signs of instability at any elevation, but would be cautious for any lurking wind slabs in the alpine or shallow and or rocky areas at any elevation. Glacier is still reasonably bony with several slots to negotiate. Frisby ridge and Boulder mtn (monashees) and Sale mtn (selkirks), have had excellent conditions over the last week with only crusts present on steep south and some west aspects. Temperature inversions seem to have missed these areas due to elevation (all terrain below 2300m). In general best ski conditions seem to be around tree line north and east aspects. Have fun!!!! Jeff Honig Mountain Guide Alpine Addictions Box 1106 Revelstoke BC V0E2S0 (250)837-2215 (home) (240)837-1333 (cell) jeff@alpineaddictions.com

Guided all of Sacre Bleu, save for the last 40 m, yesterday. Biked in on dry roads to the trailhead. No snow on the trail nor on the approach talus. Climbed all the ice right from ground zero, fist pitch an intresting WI 4 pillar (one Leeper Z piton, one knifeblade). Then a long and stepped gulley ramble very similar in length and difficulty to This House of Sky, another WI 4 pillar 1000 feet higher. Then into the approach ice for Sacre Bleu, all the ice is there. Boot top snow in narrow strips of lee. Low hazard in the last 100m to Sacre Bleu. 4 pm, for us, at the base of the last 40m so we bailed to get into the timber before dark. Two 70m raps with some downclimbing then a traverse skier's right into the timber. Two 30m raps off trees to reach the base of the route. Great climbing, long day. Happy trails Barry Blanchard _______________________________________________ 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.

A couple of days ago was on Nightmare on Wolf Street. Its in excellent shape up to above the second rock pitch. Then you get wet, very wet. So we opted not to get wet. Replaced the first hanger on the second rock pitch, It'll be great when it cool down. Today climbed in field, did Carlsberg, Cascade Kronenburgh and a mixed line on Pilsner. Carlsberg - is a little wet here and there, but good fun grade 5 climbing. Cascade Kronenburgh - has a really nice line straight up the middle. Pretty well useless pro until the second piller, but the ice was quite positive, the kind that keeps you going until its impossible to turn back. Good sticks if your heads into it, Grade 6 R. -3.0 at the base this morning. Pilsner - in full flow right now, very very wet. Some good mixed routes on the right side though. Should be great when it touches down. Guniness - talked to a party that climbed guiness today. Said it was very thin on the firsy pitch, actually placed some rock pro, like a pin. All pitches were climable though, but thin and minimal pro. Stout looks climable from the road. Super Bock looks great. Golden climbs are looking very thin and unclimable to date except for maybe Lady Killer. Giver. Rich Marshall _______________________________________________ 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.

French Reality is in decent shape right now, thin on the first two pitches (mainly rock climbing), last two pitches are in good shape. Not quite the give-away that it was last year but still soft for the grade. Two 70 m raps puts you at the base nice and quick. Bring a half dozen cams to 2.5/3", a few tricams, and a few nuts. Looking at Rob Owens' recent photos I thought that the ice was in the chimney (and so brought an overly skimpy rack) but it's not -- it's on the wall to the right and is thin. Snowpack in the Stanley Valley consists of about 30 cm of dry, unconsolidated faceting snow with a thin temp/rain?/wind crust on the top (up to 10 mm thick) in patches. Snow levels are below threshold for avalanches at least as far as Nemesis. 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.

Up for a quick look to the Bald hills today. Fire road is generally packed, about 10cm at the parking lot. Went up summer trail, reasonable travelling 20-30cm in the trees. More wind affect at and above treeline, numerous subsidences right at treeline where the slab is more fragile. Did a quick test pit and found a weakness down 3 cm just under the surface slab, a weaker midpack and a weakness (compression test 7) down 12cm on some pellets of snow (graupel) Lots of wind affect in alp. Old MF layer from Sept is facetting, much weaker. No signs of new activity though suspect of loaded features with the warm temps. -4 at 0800 parking lot, +2 at 2240 m. Getting down the road is OK, strong snowplow seems to work. Nice day.. Checked BS canyon early week and still too much water running. Checked marmot falls, "edge of the world" again not really formed yet. Peter Peter Amann Mountain Guiding Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0 www.incentre.net/pamann pamann@incentre.net _______________________________________________ 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.

Climbed Melt Out (2 pitches) yesterday (Nov 18). It is in great shape, fat enough to take long screws the whole way and no pick strikes on rock. The ice was nice and plastic. It had one hole 3/4 up the second pitch that was spitting water out, had to move quickly to avoid getting too wet. Many climbs along the Icefields Parkway are forming, but they are in classic early season shape - thin and wet. Easy walking to most climbs with 5 - 10 cm of snow. Watch for pockets of slab between pitches on some climbs, and with the warm temperatures any route that has avalanche hazard on or above it requires careful evaluation. Several size 2 natural avalanches were noted yesterday, mainly on north-east aspects. The crowns were up to 1 metre deep, and fracture lines propagated up to 400 metres. Skiing at Hilda Ridge 3 days ago was OK in the areas protected from the wind. Jordy Shepherd Mountain Guide (See attached file: Meltout 1.jpg)(See attached file: Pitch 2.jpg) ??_______________________________________________ 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.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/517717/an/0/page/0#517717

Up for a late afternoon jaunt up to Balu Pass. Similar conditions to other recent mcr reports. Upper level clearing today, but substantial valley fog, and clag clinging to mountainsides varying from1500-2200 m. These fog conditions seem to have helped encourage surface hoar growth withing the fog, but it is not in all areas. These crystals were as big as 5mm and they were rimed, on the last steep slope leading to Balu Pass. Left undisturbed, this layer could become a concern when buried. Winds at ridgetop - moderate Westerlies - some transport observed. Cornices seem large for this time of year. Friendly skiing in the trees leading up to 8812 from Balu Pass Play smart and enjoy the fun! Brian Gould _______________________________________________ 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. Greetings everyone, I was up the Asulkan valley today and skied some lines in the Dome Glacier area. Sky conditions were mostly scattered cirrus (high clouds) and a valley fog layer that was topped at around 1800m. Temps were wintery and winds were light in our area (with some drifting off higher ridges) and the snow has definitely been more sheltered from wind affect than the Connaught drainage. That said Youngs peak definitely had some wind on it. There appears to have been 10-15 cms. of new snow since Tuesday and the surface is currently covered with surface hoar that ranges from 3-5mm. in size - this was observed from below treeline all the way into the alpine. Of note were several old slab avalanches that judging from the amount of snow on them, probably occurred last Monday. There were 3 size 2 slabs off Mt. Pollyx and the broken icefall below it (sometimes referred to as the Thorington route) they were @ 20-30 m. wide and probably 60-80 cm. thick and ran off steep (40 degrees) unsupported features - I am guessing that this was the storm interface (observations from a distance). The Nov.12th crust is @ 40-60cm. from the surface and the October crust was buried by 140cm. of snow. The HS (height of snowpack) was 200cm. on the upper Dome Glacier. There were several sags on the top of the glacier, so be aware if traveling in the area in poor light. No significant shears observed and no results from the ski tests. Cheers, Scott Davis Mountain 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.