Whistler Creek

5cm fresh snow fell overnight with minimal wind affect, but snowpack depth is highly variable due to previous wind affect. We found great ski quality on supported, moderate angled terrain, and avoided large steep slopes, shallow rocky areas, and smaller convex slopes above terrain traps. Shallow spots were sometimes tricky to identify. We also ski cut small test slopes, & dug profiles at alpine and treeline elevations on Whistler Creek side of Marmot Pass area. See photos. These showed an 'upside down' snowpack structure; with a harder, more dense midpack, over a softer, weaker base of depth hoar near the ground. This was also easy (& quick) to detect in many areas simply by probing. In the Alpine on a West aspect we observed repeated Very Easy, Sudden results down 35cm on the January surface hoar/facet layer. On this aspect there was little slab overlying the layer, due to recent faceting / softening of the upper snowpack during cold temperatures, but it certainly made us consider the consequence of finding a slope where the upper snowpack is more consolidated over this layer. Sudden test results on the weak basal depth hoar, both in the alpine and at treeline, indicate there is still potential for Large, Deep Persistent slab avalanches if triggered (more likely from shallow areas or by large loads). No investigation of solar aspects (eg Portal Creek side Marmot Pass), however due to previous Northerly wind events, it is possible there is a slab over the January persistent weak layer (PWL) in places, especially near ridgetop, and we felt more wary of this terrain.

Please see photos for more details.