First Foray to Alexandra

<p>After deeming the icy Elk Mountain Main unsafe for truck or sled travel, we switched gears and headed for Buttle Bluffs and Mt Alexandra. Access to the Boundary Range has been problematic of late, with a creek across the Granite Main and bony cutblocks discouraging us from the Oyster Main. A set of snowshoe tracks showed we were not the first ones with the Buttle idea! After reaching the Alexandra-Adrian col, we donned touring gear to gain a bit of elevation. Surface hoar up to 10mm glimmered in the broken light--atop breakable crust in sun-exposed spots. To be blunt, almost all travel off of the road remains uninviting. Except for isolated features, below treeline is still struggling to reach threshold depths for avalanches but also for worthwhile skiing! Still, about 30 cm of snow since Jan 1 meant that we were slightly better off than survival skiing. The lower the angle, the better right now. Our profile at 1440m showed minimal reactivity on the weak, 30-cm deep Jan 1 crust . Moist to wet snow begins at this depth and extends to the base of the snowpack. We observed no reactivity on the deeper layers we've been tracking so far over the season. On our descent through steep rolls at treeline, we observed minimal wind effect and only occasionally felt a small block of storm snow break off the crust mid-turn. We anticipate we'd find greater reactivity at this interface where winds have formed stiffer slabs over it. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Dense trees, Open trees, Steep slopes.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Foggy.