Spargood Still Good!

Today we ventured north of Sparwood to see if we could still find some preserved dry snow. The day was overcast with high cloud, and light winds from the SW at ridgetop. Temperatures hovered around -5 all day. We observed no new avalanches, and we were successful in finding some preserved dry snow in sheltered and shady areas. The extended high pressure and cold temps have contributed to 20-40 cm of facets on the surface. This is capped by surface hoar up to 20 mm in size. The surface hoar is 5 mm on exposed solar aspects, but is sitting on a thin breakable crust, and we still expect any new snow in this area to be problematic at all aspects and elevations. While we are crossing our fingers for this next minor storm system to produce, we will be very wary of increased avalanche hazard anywhere we see new snow accumulating.