Bow Summit

I decided to head up to Bow Summit again and see how far our snowpack had improved since I was there. Honestly, I don't see it as improving much, but there are a few things to note, good and bad. On average, there is about 35-40cm of snow. The deepest pocket I could find was just below 50cm. You could be walking on the ground in plenty of places, though. The snowpack has two lightly packed wind slabs; each is about 1/3rd from the top and bottom (so if the height was 30cm, these are found around 10cm and 20cm from the bottom). The whole pack is basically made up of facetted DFs, or at least everywhere I looked. The good news is those weak wind-packed layers keep skis from travelling on the ground. The bad news is that with only 40cm of snow, even a small rock or stump will end your season pretty fast. The turns can feel "good", but I don't trust it. The other bad news is the distribution of the snow over the larger area. Windward areas are basically dry rock. Direct lee areas are deeper but still just facets or windslab over facets. We also saw a surprising amount of natural avalanches starting in very dry areas, running off the ground and travelling further than I would expect for the current snow depths. The other good news is you can get some "skiing" in if you are desperate. The Tree Chutes and Roadside Bowl at Bow Summit have been heavily tracked, so at least you have a "base" now. Some of the tracks in Roadside Bowl were covered up by an avalanche that released naturally in the above terrain, and the area directly above most of the tracks hasn't released yet.