McBride

A lower hazard spring day had us keen for some bigger ski lines although we were mindful not to get lulled into complacency. We were on the look out for recent avalanche activity as we traveled up the Dore. (No new avalanches). While hiking up we continuously assessed the snowpack and weather for anything unexpected. While we did see some snow transport, the windslabs were to thin and soft to be a concern. We avoided areas where the snow goes from thick to thin, due to the deep persistant problem. We used good travel practices and spaced out. On top we had a group discussion and then skied one at a time. We found good soft turns on a 30 degree, north facing, alpine slope.

Spring sunshine had us curious how the snow was responding to the recent warmth. We layered on the sunscreen and rode up to Bell. On sunny, south facing, slopes we found a 3cm crust all the way to the alp that made for good skiing while it was supportive. Once it started to melt we moved to shady aspects that wouldn't become hazardous with the afternoon heat. At ridge top it was a calm and balmy zero degrees.

Stayed at the Eagle Valley Cabin from February 18-21. Observed lots of debris from natural avalanche activity on both W and E aspects on the approach in the valley. We skied mainly at treeline and below treeline slopes on W and E aspects. We probed 240cm on both aspects. During our stay, it snowed all three days and accumulation was greatest on the evening of the 20th. About 30cms of low density snow fell on the evening of the 20th. Temperatures remained consistent from the 18th-20th and on the 21st, the temperature started to drop quickly with winds picking up. We completed an ECT on the 20th. The mid pack was very well consolated and on our ECT we had a resistant planar result with no propagation on the storm snow. Through the midpack it was mostly finger dense snow up until the bottom of snow the pack which was faceted. No results on the basal facets on the ECT. On the 21st, we observed a lot of natural storm slab size 1s on steeper terrain On the 20th, we heard a large avalanche but could not see where it was. On the walkout on the 21st, we came across the debris pile of a natural size 3.5 on one of the E avalanche paths in the valley. It ran to ground and we couldn't see the crown of it. Overall it was a great trip with amazing skiing.

We went to Bell Mountain today to see how the recent winds have been affecting the storm snow. We found soft windslabs around 20cm deep that cracked under our skis along alpine ridge lines. We decided to take shelter from the strong southerly winds and moved down to some steep chutes at tree line. Here we found deep, bonded storm snow and some great skiing.

It was a powder day at Lucille with snow up to the hood of our sleds. While we didn't see any new avalanches, with plenty of new snow falling we see didn't much. We decided to give the storm snow some time to settle before venturing into bigger terrain. So we stuck to low consequence terrain like small test slopes, open trees and meadows while the new snow bonds.

Was out in Lucille with a group and saw 3 natural avalanches in the alpine of storm slabs on Lee slopes. Little later in the Day watch some one pull a small avalanche out of a similar aspect slope. No one was caught in it. The snowpack was interesting in the zone, ECTP 4 down 20cm and ECTP 12 down 35 on the December Surface Hoar layer. The bottom 50cm is very faceted really giving the snowpack a very upside down look and feel.

We had a fun day riding soft snow at Lucille. This season's snowpack is still shallow and required caution. At ridge crest most of the snow had blown away with recent winds from north and south. The wind slabs we found (snow deposited by wind) were really soft. There was little to no cracking, and no snow movement, just fun sledding.

We found 90 cm of snow around the cabin at Bell today. Enough snow to brush off the cobwebs and get our sleds stuck! We were wary of where the wind is depositing the 15cm of new snow, and avoided those areas. With limited visibility we found the best riding in sheltered areas at treeline. There is a persistent layer of concern down 40cm that is being tracked throughout the region. Today in our tests we didn't have results on this layer but we will be keeping a close eye on it as the season progresses.

Got out for a very pleasant ski at Belle today. We took advantage of the low avalanche hazard and skied a more committing and complex alpine face. We minimized our hazard by sticking to a narrow ridge and boot packing in spots on the way up but on the way down were exposed to big avalanche terrain and some looming overhead cornices. We minimized this exposure by skiing one at a time and regrouping in safe spots. There were still some nice powder turns to be found on north and east faces at upper elevations!

Spent 4 days at the Ozalenka Cabin, came out on April 1st. The first day coming in was hot and sunny, with lots of wet loose avalanches coming down, the warmth also triggering some cornice drops and size 2 slabs up in the alpine. A widespread temperature crust formed on all aspects up to 1750m that day. Over the next two days we had about 20cm of storm snow accumaulate at treeline which settled rapidly in the warm temperatures but made for some good skiing up high. We triggered one small wind slab skiing a northeast facing wind loaded slope in the alpine (you can just make out the debris in the photo). Coming out of the cabin today the snow quality deteriorated as we lost elevation and was more like "dust on crust" conditions below 1500m. The snow was moist below 1300m.

Took advantage of a last day of good powder skiing before the dreaded forecast of rain and warming comes in tomorrow. Found some nice powder on north facing slopes, especially in the trees as it had been quite windy in the alpine recently. We found the avalanche hazard to be minimal today with the windslabs being stubborn and unreactive to ski cuts. We dug a couple to snow pits but could not find the buried weak layer of surface hoar that has been plaguing the Southern Cariboos. As a result we felt comfortable skiing some steep lines and filling up on some powder before it's all gone.

We saw a few lose wet avalanches below 1500 meters up to size 1-1.5. 13 cm of fresh snow over the old crust which was 4 cm thick. We dug a pit in a west facing cut block at 1500 meters. We found a total snow pack of 130cm. No significant results with our tests (ECTX, CTM 14 SP Below a crust down 60)

Its getting harder to find good powder out there, you really have to hunt for it now. There's no good skiing or sledding in the alpine or upper treeline anymore, but in sheltered north facing trees theres still the odd stash of powder to be found skiing down into McIntosh Creek. South and west faces are crusty from recent sun and warm temps and strong winds have turned the alpine into bulletproof slab and sastrugi. It was windy at upper elevations today, but theres no more snow available for it to pick up so no new windslabs are forming. Avalanche hazard in the area seemed pretty low so we felt comfortable skiing steep lines. There were no signs of instability or recent avalanches in the area.

While the strong southerly winds had definitely blasted through Mt.Lucille and the bowls recently, there was still the odd powder stash to be found in sheltered areas in the trees. We found 190cm at treeline and dug a quick snowpit to check for weak layers but other than the fresh windslabs there wernt any deeper layers to worry about. On the way out we saw a fresh slide out of a north east facing slope in the alpine where a big chunck of cornice had collapsed and triggered a 10cm thick wind slab avalanche below.

Lucile was pretty tracked out so we ventured further back and dropped into butterfly bowl lots of untouched areas and we seen a spot that didn’t look to bad started playing on the hill one at a time about the 10th - 12th pull on the hill I was coming across the hill and my buddy was sitting down on the ridge/spine at the bottom when he felt the ground drop/shift he knew something wasn’t right but did not think it would let go but new he needed to get out of there turned around to start his sled up and then looked back by this time I was right behind him completely unaware everything behind me was sliding and coming down (he was waving his hand and I didn’t think much of it thought he was shaking his hand to warm his hands up) so i asked whats wrong? He says avalanche and I look over my shoulder and by this time it was moving very fast about 3’ to my right. We where very lucky that we where up on that little ridge (between where the pictures where taken and where the slide slid) because where the avalanche ran out is where we where turning around to climb the hill. The two tracks on the outside edge of the bottom of that slide are our last two tracks he was the furthest out and most of my track from coming down was buried from the slide. It happened extremely fast and had the potential for both of us to not be coming home.

Some decent powder turns to be found at upper elevations at Belle today. Total snowpack amounts range from around 75cm on southerly faces to 200cm on north faces at treeline. There are still a lot of willows and stumps poking up through the snow to watch out for and it’s not that great below 1650m but we managed to find some good skiing between. The alpine has been hit pretty hard with recent strong wind but there are pockets of soft powder in sheltered areas that make for good sledding too. We found no major problems with the snowpack other than some isolated wind slabs 15-25cm deep in lee areas that had the potential to pop out some small avalanches.

A sunny spring ski day up the Dore! We knew the sunny south and west facing slopes would be sketchy today so we chose a north facing slopes where there was great powder and lower hazard. We saw lots of avalanches today (see photos and comments). The main problems were loose wet avalanches that were triggered by direct sun and cornice failures, also triggered by the warming.

40 cm of storm snow, 15 overnight, with a total base of 245 cm at the lucille cabin. The alpine was wind hammered, so we stayed in the mellow slopes around treeline sniffing out the pockets of deep pow. The sun came out and the temperature was above 0 when we returned to the staging area around noon.

Three days spent up at the Ozalenka cabin, sunny and warm for each one. We saw one quite large avalanche we suspected was a couple of days old and possibly triggered by a cornice fall on a north facing alpine slope. Suspect the weak layer it failed on was the mid February facets. We also saw several solar/warming triggered avalanches up to size 2 on south facing slopes and a few recent cornice failures. Sunny slopes had wet surface snow, but shady north facing slopes still offered a few cm's of powder and fun skiing so we stuck to those.

We started the morning under bluebird skies at Belle and found anywhere from 5-20cm lower density snow over a well-settled snowpack providing easy travel conditions. In a test profile in sheltered terrain at 1830m we found no persistent weak layers and no results in snowpack testing. Gusty west winds began to pick up around noon and transport snow in exposed alpine areas.

A stormy day in the Cariboos! We chose to go up the West Dore and ski in a north east facing area to be sheltered from the strong southwesterly winds today. We could see evidence of a size 1.5 windslab that had released from underneath a cornice high up on a north facing ridgeline. The skiing wasnt that great when you got out in the open as recent winds had stiffened up the snow into a slab. We did a few snowpack tests around 1600m on the lower end of the treeline but found no weak layers in the top 90cm. Touring up we had no shooting cracks or whumpfs and felt confident skiing steeper lines far below ridgelines where we suspected new winslabs were forming. We saw lots of ptarmigan in the area which made for a highlight as well!

A great visibility day up the Dore with lots of morning sun, clouds and wind increasing throughout the afternoon. We saw evidence of several recent avalanches, all on northerly or easterly wind loaded features. Most of the avalanches we saw we suspected were 24-72 hours old. They were in the size 1.5-2 range and likely around 30cm deep. There was one large anomaly though on a NW chute (photo 1) that ran a lot deeper than the others with a fracture line well over 1m deep. We chose to ride lower angle alpine lines, avoiding overhead hazards like cornices and steep wind loaded slopes. The skiing was best in the trees where the strong south easterly winds hadn't affected the 20cm's of new storm snow, making for some great powder skiing.

Caught the sunrise for another good visibility day. Lots of wind effect with good cornice development at ridgetops. Dug a pit at 1890m, N asp, 135cm snowpack, compression tests moderate down 50cm on surface hoar 4mm (appear to be broken down, possibly from the wind). No avalanche obs, lots of old cornice debris.

Took advantage of the decreased avalanche hazard in the Cariboos and got some really fun turns in at Belle Mountain today. The day was sunny and felt warm but temperatures stayed between -7 and -10 keeping the snow dry and powdery. The skiing was great down to about 1700m where it started to get crusty. We dug a quick profile at 2150m on an east facing slope and didn't find any scary weak layers or get any significant results with our snowpack tests. We saw one small size 1 wind slab below a cornice but no other recent avalanches.

Went up the Middle and South Dore River areas today hoping to find something good to ski. Still far too many alders to make access easy and the rain crust from recent rain events appears to go quite high, estimate 1600m or more (we only made it to 1400m). There was evidence of a pretty big avalanche cycle in the South Dore with debris even running right to valley bottom through some thick alders. Not sure if the culprits were wind/storm slabs or if the weak layer was a deeper rain crust from early November. The biggest slides were all on east facing slopes although there were a few on west faces as well. It seems like hazard has dropped significantly since this cycle but unfortunately so has ski/riding quality with the new crust. A new layer of surface hoar is now growing on top of this crust and will be something to watch when it gets buried in the coming days as it may become our new problem weak layer.

First field day of the season for the North Rockies Field Team! We focused mostly on updating our rescue and transceiver search skills today, but still got out for some quick observations on Mt.Lucille. It was VERY windy this morning with strong southerly winds building cornices and likely creating new windslabs in the alpine and treeline. In the afternoon it started to precipitate (rain below 1350m, snow above that elevation). At 1300m we found 65cm of total snow. The air temperature was 3C and the top 2cm of the snowpack were wet from rain and warm temps with moist snow below - which was good as it appeared to be melting some large surface hoar crystals which grew over the last few days. Hopefully now they are melting they won't be an issue when they are buried later.

Took advantage of the low avalanche hazard and good visibility to get up high today. No signs of recent avalanches anywhere. Alpine and treeline areas were wind affected but still ski-able. We avoided south aspects today because temperatures weren't warm enough to soften the sun crust on the surface making for terrible skiing there. There's still dry snow and decent skiing to be found on shaded slopes and in the trees though.

Strong south winds today were rapidly building cornices and windslabs in lee north through east facing slopes. I was able to ski cut several size 1 slabs 10-20cm deep on lee apects today. We found good skiing lower down in sheltered trees and avoided the alpine due to the wind effect. We also saw one size 2 windslab on a neighbouring mountain on a north east aspect.

In the Castle drainage of the Cariboos we saw evidence of a large avalanche cycle from last week, as well as some new debris we suspected was from yesterday (first photo). With a bunch more snow/rain in the forecast for the next few days, we expect to see more large avalanches running all the way to valley bottoms. The weather today was rainy and warm and the snowpack is pretty mushy at lower elevations - when you step off your sled you often go all the way to ground which is about 70-100cm! The rain/snow line seemed to be around 1100-1200m today, so getting above that is probably key to getting to good riding. Also as a note for anyone planning on heading up this way in the near future, we highly recommend bringing a chainsaw - lots of downed trees on the road, it was like being in a jungle gym building trails that went under, around and sometimes right through.

Went skiing up Belle Mountain - the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. It started out cold in the morning at -15C but warmed up quickly. We skied a south facing slope and the top 5 cm of the snowpack turned moist and sticky below 1800m in the trees by late afternoon, but still made for fun turns. On our drive up to the staging area in the morning we spotted a large avalanche that had been triggered by a falling cornice and pulled out a deep looking slab on an east facing slope, a few mountains north of Belle. We avoided any slopes with cornices overhanging them today due to the warming and recent avalanche we saw.