Lillooet Spicefield

<p>Party of 4 farmers went for a corn harvest on the Lillooet Spicefield, but only found a lillooet of corn. They spent 6 days (April 29 to May 4) on the Lillooet Icefield), traversing from the Lillooet mt area to the toe of Frank Smith Glacier. Fly in observations (Pemberton, Harrison area, April 29, early afternoon): widespread avalanche activity, lots of wet loose size 1 to 2 in steep alpine terrain on all solar aspects. Traverse observations: solid refreeze every night except of on Sunday to Monday night. Rain event on Sunday afternoon between 2400m and 2500m and below. High solar radiation (felt like walking in a frying pan). Snow turned from frozen solid to corn at around 8am and into mush at around 10 am on all days except of Monday, when it was mostly cloudy and stayed solid. Farmers were collecting the harvest. No recent crowns, wet loose point releases on steep solar slopes, size 1 to 2 (non countable, but very predictable), few cornice drops. No activity of deep persistent layer. Generally not a lot of cornices. On Alecto mt, south west ridge, Monday early morning, debris/ pin wheels from a wet loose avi were still soft and the layer just below the surface was super wet. Wind and sun walls constructed from shovel wide snow blocks collapsed in the morning at around 8am or early afternoon, just after construction. Considering Avi conditions we flipped the trip direction last minute to ensure that we stayed on slopes below 20 degrees for the entire time of the trip and avoided every overhead hazards. Glacial winds picked up typically during the evening. Snow depth of 3000mm on Ring glacier, beyond 3200mm (probe length) on Lillooet glacier, 800mm and bare ice at toe of Frank Smith. Observations from fly out (May 4th, 9 to 10 am) in North Creek/ Pebble area: most steep terrain slid to valley bottom. One large deep persistent slab avalanche in Pebble Creek area. We will post pictures later. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes, Sunny slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Snow Conditions

Crusty, Wet, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Sunny, Warm, Windy.