Winter Comes in March
Like many of you, the warmer weather a couple weeks ago had us starting to dust off trail runners and mountain bikes, but winter isn't done quite yet. Last weekend we had our Community Uphill Day with the Hope Mountain Center. With mixed precipitation and high freezing levels in the forecast, we didn't have high hopes. But, low expectations can beget big rewards. We ended up with a sleeper powder day, storm skiing up on the Coquihalla.
Conditions were variable. A widespread crust was pretty much everywhere except for high, north facing terrain. On top of this was between 5 to 30cm of snow. Conditions were best described as "hot pow" – fresh, but warm and moist snow. We were able to produce fairly easy pit results in both the fresh storm slab and on the persistent slab, but they were resistant. We were able to ski trigger storm slabs on steep, unsupported terrain.
Since then, we've seen colder temperatures and more snow. Upwards of 65cm of snow now sits atop that crust everywhere but alpine, north facing terrain. Reports from Avalanche Canada are that last weekend's storm brought a widespread natural cycle, with some avalanches running on the persistent slab.
Looking Ahead
Heading into this weekend, the wintery weather is expected to continue. With more snow expected today, we expect to see storm slab problems for the coming days, becoming or mixing with windslabs. Beneath this, the persistent slab problem is still lurking. We'll be very cautious around the potential for an upper snowpack avalanche to trigger this further down.
We're taking a conservative mindset into this weekend, looking for lower angle, supported terrain to evaluate how the new snow is bonding to the crust. And, investigating the persistent problem a bit more. This time of year, we're also starting to think more about skiing up the Chilliwack River Valley. One part of that is longer days, but we're also looking for rising snow levels to shorten long logging road approaches. With the lower snow-line this week, we're probably not there yet, but hopefully soon.
It's also spring, which means that solar warming is a concern. The sun has a higher angle this time of year, which increases its impact on the snow, so even short periods of sun can impact the snowpack. We'll be watching forecasts and conditions, backing off any exposed slopes if we start to see signs of warming like pinwheeling and point releases.
We don't have any snow related events coming up, but if you're a climber, this week we announced that we're teaming up with the Fraser Valley Climbing Society to bring a Climbing Festival to the backyard, check out this link for more info.
