MCR Observation

Mountain Conditions Report

<p>We skiied into the comfortable and historic Stanley Mitchell hut in the Poco Yoho valley for four nights via the Takakkaw Falls road.</p> <p>Weather<br /> The last day of high pressure was on our ski in (4 April). Then a warm front moved in with rising freezing levels and and precipitation. The remainder of the trip was overcast with low ceilings below summit elevations.</p> <p>Skiing<br /> Despite the white, we toured up to Kiwetinok Pass and around the Kerr peaks. We were able to reach the President-VP col and the base of McArthur's north ridge. Glacier coverage was excellent and skiing very good especially above 2300 metres. On 8 April, there was 20 cm of storm snow at 2900 metres.</p> <p>Avalanche observations<br /> We saw recent evidence of large (&gt; size 3) avalanches into the basal layer initiated in alpine start zones on every aspect. Most of these were cornice triggered, but the south 2400m moraine of McArthur went size 3 with a solar trigger. Cornices are large, and their debris is running far and fast. We minimised our overhead exposure with the concern of a cornice fall triggering a deeper instability. Windslabs were forming in the alpine on 7th April from moderate southerlies.</p> <p>Tak Falls road<br /> There was 5cm of new snow at Tak Falls yesterday morning. This combined with a weak overnight freeze and some near-liquid precip made for a long and tiring walk out to the highway akin to skiing in Vaseline. It really is uphill both ways to Tak Falls...</p> <p>Ken BÉLANGER<br /> Adventures365</p>