The Winning Racehorse

Today we went back to the Crowsnest Pass for seconds. On Monday, we had great riding conditions...so we just wanted to double-check before the long weekend. We were not disappointed, another 15-20 cm of new snow has fallen, and the access is in great shape, the groomers were out working their magic! Step (or ride) off the trail, and you'll be greeted by 60-85 cm of soft snow above a hard crust from the previous atmospheric river. While we were in the field today, it was lightly snowing. The temperatures started to rise, but upper elevations stayed cool and dry, with great skiing and sledding. There was a light wind from the north at ridge top but we didn't see any snow blowing around, and the alpine was obscured from view, hiding behind dense clouds. We observed some small, loose, wet avalanches below treeline on cut banks and a few loose, dry avalanches in the alpine. We dug into the snow at 2200 m on a north aspect. We found 85 cm of soft snow sitting on top of a 40 cm thick melt-freeze crust from the rain 2 weeks ago. The snow above the crust is taking its time bonding to the crust and may be reactive to human triggers. If you've made it this far, thanks for checking in, and have a great long weekend!