Bow Valley

As expected, rapid rise of temp as sun hit snow at 10-12. The snow was sticky and wet by the time we got down to treeline after the descent. We approached in at 5:30 am, got to 3/4 up the col at 11:33 down by 11:44. sun wasn't on col yet, we were in -8 on average for am. We had a great descent on recent storm snow ( approx 10 cm ) from last night's storm. It was sitting on the seasons snow pack which was significantly rounded and bonded. The boot pack up col was very stable. We never saw signs of instability riding down but avoided all wind slab, and convex rolls. We felt on sind slab on convex roll near the bottom of our boot pack. We avoided it and it seems obvious to see.

Started off around 7:30 am, +7°c in town. Just before the saddle around 9:15 a.m. was -2°c. Cool winds coming up from the backside of the ridge were strong gusting extreme, helping keep the temps down. Minimal wind transport available at the saddle. Miner's Gulley had a supportive crust with moist snow underneath until treeline, then the crust lost support. Good coverage up high but lots of debris skiing. Two small size 1 loose dry avalanches came off the headwall as we exited lower slopes. No entrainment on any of the slopes below. First rappel is filled in with debris, though one step is ice (see photos). We still used the normal rap on the right (tat replaced). Second little bum scooch drop has tat around a small bush. Third drop with the chains still needs to be rapped (old handline broken in the ice). Walked out from there as the snow coverage was sparse.

Miners looked white from town, so we decided to go up for a lap and see how conditions have changed since the big cycle. Lots of new snow on the Ha Ling trail, average boot pen on the upper half of the trail was knee deep as we broke trail up. Consistent moderate to strong southwesterly wind at ridgetop with light wind transport. Recent debris from a few size 1-1.5s out of extreme windloaded terrain, looking to have been cornice triggered and mostly running loose. A belayed ski cut at the top of the line produced cracking up to 1m off the ski in the immediate lee and loose dry entrainment in the top 10cm, slab property to the new snow quickly tapered below the top few meters. A couple hasty pits in the upper 50m of the slope showed 50-80cm right side up fist to 4-finger snow on top of the March 20th raincrust, 3cm thick, pencil resistance. Hand shears produced resistant breaks just above the crust. Around 2250m the crust became pretty bulletproof Deep powder skiing conditions on the upper section of the line and in the bowl as long as you stay off the avy debris. As you'd expect, the lower bowl and canyon were rough, but we were able to (survival) ski all the way to Quarry lake. Feels like early November skiing BTL. Tons of rocks to hit, and lots of icy avalanche debris to pick your way through. Debris ran just past the first rappel and filled it in so that it is now sidesteppable on skis. We only had to use the rope for one short rap near the bottom.

Skied Miners Gully this afternoon. Ski quality is more or less how you'd expect. A few nice turns on soft facets at the very top, then variable wind/temp crust, avy debris, and general funk the rest of the way. Coverage throughout the line was ok for January, a belayed ski cut and hasty pit at the deeper skiers right side of the entrance found ~170cm HS, ~10cm of facets on top, then a 4-finger resistance midpack becoming fist facets at the base. We avoided the more shallow looking skiers left side of the run. In the bowl, we found old sz 2.5 avy debris stretching almost to the start of the canyon, suspect it ran during the warming event at the start of last week. Through the canyon and out the highline trail conditions were icy. We picked our way through with 4 rappels, we were glad to have 60m of rope as we needed all of it for the longer pitches. We were able to ski to Quarry lake, but conditions are marginal to say the least and we had to take skis off a number if times. Once some new snow falls, miners should ski well, but for now, it's true adventure skiing.

Kananaskis mountain rescue will be conducting avalanche control on East end of rundle, three sisters, and Buller Paths. Rolling closures along the spray starting at 09:45 until 1400. Thanks for the cooperation and no skiing/climbing or recreating in these areas.

Miners was fun this morning. There’s a fixed line now for the lower choke/cliff. The middle choke can be down climbed if you’re confident. The upper choke/cliff can be bypassed by heading way skiers right, or by doing a 16m rap off the small tree (a 30m dynamic rope will just barely work, thanks to rope stretch!). Not much snow left on highline trail.

We skied Miner's Gully today and despite underestimating the coverage on the ascent (micro-spikes and running shoes would have been better than skinning for the hiking trail), had a great time. We experienced short convective flurries and intermittent cloud throughout the day but luckily the clouds broke right after we transitioned and we had good visibility for our descent. We found a thin, breakable crust at the col with a few cms over rocks and old debris higher up, but once we regrouped below the choke the skiing quality improved considerably and we got some great turns in. The Feb 3 MFcr was supportive to skis and we saw no recent signs of instability at any point. Exiting out of the drainage was a little spicy with fairly low coverage and a lot of bushwhacking. The fixed rope at the second rock band no longer exists - we didn't have a rope with us but managed to get through unscathed. In hindsight bringing a short length would have been a good idea. All in all an excellent day.

An exploratory mission today up Mt Charles Stewart. We turned around at 2500m because of concerns we had with the snowpack. Total depth was 110cm in the middle of the main bowl, with the lower 50cm being facets/depth hoar. Slope was SW facing and ~30 degrees. Skiing was nothing to write home about; surface was a 5-10cm strong sun crust.

Went to try Twisted Sister, didn’t even harness up with all the new snow on route and blowing around. Snowing S-1 until 9:00am, very variable HS with most areas having no support. Some crusts with new snow in lee areas, gullies hosting up to 100cm of snow just above treeline. Wind was light to moderate with variable directions but dominantly from the west.

Awesome descent down miners this morning. The couloir held a decent amount of snow making it an good ride down. The Gully snow pack held together very well, awesome pow turns to be had!! A few spots were a bit crusty but most of it was awesome(Watch out for rocks just below the new snow). No signs of a weak snowpack up there, although we did hear a few rocks falling so keep your wits about you. Still plenty of snow to have some fun throughout the spring

Very strong wind observed on ridge lines.

Quite firm and supportive windslab (10 cm thick) that varied anywhere from at the surface to down 20 cm. We heard the windslab collapse underneath us once near the top of the gully, but no movement. Avy debris only partially buried in the bowl. Lots of loose dry sluffing in the trees. Nice shiny bolt at the top for testing the windslab on a rope!

Evidence of avalanche activity up to sz 2 in the region. Likely failing on the Nov crust.

Photo following a flight in the area on Tuesday Nov 4th

DISCLAIMER: Not very experienced digging snow pits or examining layers Hiked up Ha Ling on Saturday to do some research on the Miners Gully line. Did not bring skis. Just hiked up and down the day hiking trail. Lowered into the line around 5-10 meters to dig a pit and see how things are looking while on a rope. Top 15cms are a very reactive slab. Next 60cms would pop as well with some convincing. Bottom portion of the snow pack, 90cm plus, is all very sugary snow. Did not leave with confidence! Decently large cornice has formed over the entrance to this line. We dug away at most of it and threw the snow boulders into the line seeing how the snow would react, nothing reacted. Very windy at the top while we were there and snowing slightly.

Climbed twisted sister October 26. Ice started out thin and got fatter the higher we went. We brought 4 stubbies and placed all of them on the first pitch. A few dry moves on the climb but mostly ice and a bit of snow. Found some delaminated sections and onion skins but all the steeper climbing was well bonded. Very windy throughout the day, at times strong enough to blow off small chunks of ice and snow bonded to the wall near the climb. Larger ice fall events and falling spindrift was observed on south aspects across the valley. Depressions/gullies in the bowl below the climb were filled with wind deposited snow, otherwise snow depth was 10-30 cm on the approach and in the bowl below the climb.