McGregor

10cm of fresh snow over a supportive crust made for easy movement around the Torpy today. While it didn’t make for powder riding we hit up all the bowls for some observations and play. New snow seems to be bonding to the crusts left by previous solar warming and only shaded alpine slopes remain unaffected. That said, the snowpack is dry ag upper elevation and todays clouds and light snow sure fekt like winter. Below 1500m (mid burn) is a different story. The snowpack at low elevations has been taking a beating from daily freezing levels and snow along the road is melting away. This left for hot sleds and questions about how long until we’re riding in mud.

Observed wind affected slopes and multiple crowns in steep alpine terrain which made the group make conservative terrain choices. A couple of small pockets of windslab popped off but no propagation occurred.

Sunshine and blue skies had us keen to get out. We went riding at Torpy and found some awesome deep powder out of the wind, in open trees. Exposed areas had windslabs that cracked under our sleds. On the way we could see plumes of snow blowing off ridge crests and signs of wind at all elevations.

Torpy delivers with 60 cm of blower! We were careful to stay in sheltered locations where the wind hasn't formed a cohesive slab yet. Despite our caution we managed to trigger a small storm slab on a steep terrain feature. Choosing small terrain to ride on, and only exposing 1 rider at a time is how we managed the hazard today.

Great day out at the Torpy Burn, along with everyone else! Recent storm snow was unconsolidated for the first couple hundred meters vertical above the road, then had more slab characteristics with some wind effect higher up. Pit at 1560 m on S aspect in open trees had 140 cm snow depth, easy results in the upper 10 cm, moderate results (ctm14) down 30 cm on a ~1-2 cm rain crust. We had small failures in the storm slab under our skis on short steep sections with minimal propagation. Lots of fun to be had while staying off slopes with higher consequence.

Pit dug at 1750 meters on a south aspect. 0-25 cms was fist soft and sloughed away loosely along a 25cm layer in 8 taps, 25-35 cms was 4 finger firm with a failure at 14 taps along a 35 cm deep thin crust. Another failure at 29 taps at a thin crust 60 cms deep. Snowpack was very wind blown and 180 cms deep here. While I was digging the pit a large crack developed on both sides of the pit extending 6 to 8 feet outward. There was no sign of the previous sugary layer in the 1 meter pit. Snow quality was insanely fun to ski but visibility was zero any higher.

Been up at the Red Mtn cabin for the past two days. Yesterday (Saturday) we skied mellow open slopes and treed slopes. We poked around more throughout today (Sunday). Woke up this morning to ~1 cm ice/rime crust on all aspects and elevations between at least 1400 m to at least 1800 m. Had reactive moderate results on a north face down 30 cms overlying very weak facets. We stuck to skiing south facing slopes primarily in open and dense trees on slopes below 25 degrees. We had a couple lines in moderately dense trees on up to 40 degree slopes with no failures. The snowpack certainly looks solid at first glance, but this persistent slab makes avoiding large, convex slopes the way to go.

Was 2 degrees at the truck and raining when we unloaded. The rain turned to freezing rain when we got up the burn but then quickly turned to snow. It cleared off around noon and then the wind picked up on our way out.

30cm-70cm total snow, which decreases markedly below 1500m. Variable snow surfaces at treeline and above with the best riding in the trees. Surface hoar growth was observed below treeline but seemed to be confined to an elevation band between 1200m-1500m on northerly aspects. A 1cm layer of facets on the surface is widespread. Snowpack lacks strength and trail-breaking was difficult. Snow started falling around noon at 1cm/hr or less with light wind gusts from the SE.

Paying close attention to the direction slopes faced, or the aspect, was important at the Torpy today. A thin crust formed yesterday in the warmth of the sun and now south faces are crusty much higher than shadier, north facing ones. Strong winds are starting pull snow from the south sides of ridge lines and form wind slabs on North faces. We managed to sled cut one of these slabs on a small, alpine roll. Overall the best snow is in sheltered, open trees on north and east facing slopes where 30cm of new snow sits over the crust from late March.

We found some decent skiing and powder at upper elevations near the Farm today. The snow surface was pretty crusty up to around 1000m but it got better quickly above that with 10-15cm of new snow from yesterday. It was a warm day and the sun had some kick to it. We set off a few small wet loose slides during our ski down on steep sunny slopes. We saw one larger (size 2) wind slab on a east facing slope in the alpine that appeared to have come down yesterday. There were also a couple of cornices that had broken off recently but hadn't triggered any slabs on their way down.

It's slim pickings to find good riding in the Torpy area right now. The sun has made a breakable crust over the south and west facing slopes and recent northerly winds have made north faces in the alpine unpleasant. Low elevation slopes below 1300m were pretty crusty everywhere as well. The best powder we found was in sheltered upper elevation trees on northerly facing aspects. Avalanche hazard was pretty low so we felt safe skiing a couple of steep 40 degree lines. We dug a quick pit to confirm the absence of any weak layers deeper in the snow before we dove in. The area has only received around 15cm of new snow over the last two weeks.

The 6cm of new snow in the Torpy wasnt enough to call the skiing good, but it sure was a big improvement considering how bad its been all week. We found some decent ski turns above the rain line which was around 900-1000m. The now buried crust was about 10cm thick and supportive to sleds and skis. The avalanche hazard was still quite low with so little new snow but will likely rise as more precipitation falls and winds pick up.

It was a day for the books at the Torpy! We arrived to 50cm of cold, dry snow from this weekend’s storm and blue skies. With snow this amazing, we couldn’t help burning some donuts in the meadows before heading out for our ski. The westerly winds that had loaded slopes during the storm switched to the north today and began reverse loading slopes. This meant that most exposed slopes in the alpine and upper tree line had developed wind slabs. While most the snow was too soft and dry to form slab avalanches, we avoided any pockets where the snow felt denser or showed signs of cracking. We picked a line that was sheltered from the wind and enjoyed blower pow all the way to the bottom!

very wet day out the farm way today. rain and sleet below 1000m and very wet snow precip above that. Air temp was -1 in the am at the parking lot. but +1 upon return to car at 2pm. measured -3 at 1400m at 1pm. light south west winds throughout the day. snow was mostly falling at 1cm an hour throughout the day, with a few periods of increased snowfall to approx 3cm/hr midday. New snow was wet and heavy and was not bonding well with a significant crust below 1200m, but was not a cause for concern with the relatively small load from today. snow seemed strong with no signs of instability above the end of that crust at 1200m beyond wet surface snow. measured 190cm of snow at 1400m turned around early cause we were thoroughly soaked, skiing quality was ok until you hit that crust, almost woulda rather had the -30 degrees from the other week.

No signs of instability in the terrain we travelled other than surface sluffing in steep terrain. We stayed below tree line expecting the alpine to be wind affected, skiing large openings and avalanche paths. -20 degree temps, low humidity and 3 weeks of surface facetting topped by 20 cm of recent blower made for some deep dry cold smoke.

It warmed up to a balmy -17.5C in the Torpy today which felt practically tropical after the week of cold. The alpine has been hammered pretty hard by recent north-easterly wind carving out a lot of fantastic snow sculptures or "sastrugi" which looked neat, but didn't make for good sledding. That same wind had built slabs of wind deposited snow on south and west facing slopes. Our tests showed these wind slabs have potential to be triggered by riders (ECTP 11). We also had the odd shooting crack on those same slopes, especally between tracks. We found the best riding was in lower tree line areas where the powder was still unaffected by wind and super deep!

Total snow load of 260cm, 60cm of champagne powder on top, Face shots all day, noticed lots of signs of instability on 45+degree slops from previous storms Stuck to the meadows and trees over the day

Last day at Red. Wanted to get a last lap on the south facing slope that looks at the cabin. Dug a pit considering the new snow overnight (~10cm) and we wanted to perhaps ski the big open gentle(ish) south facing slopes. Snow depth was ~90 cm. A ~30 cm slab slid after 8 hits from the elbow, and the entire column slid again on the basal facets after 3 hits from the shoulder. We figures it was very unlikely that we would be able to trigger the entire column, but we figured that if we did the avalanche would be significant. We skied out on very mellow terrain and did not ski fall line.

Snow fall and low cloud prevented us from seeing the avalanche start zones and ridge tops which kept us in the trees and meadows. We didn't see shooting cracks or other signs of instability. So we rode steeper small slopes where we could see and avoided the bigger more committing avalanche terrain. Luckily the storm continued to deliver the good stuff. So it didn't matter where we were. 

Low elevations, low coverage and breakable crust. Mid elevations,supportive crust with 10 cm HN. Upper elevations. Variable wind affected. A few recent crowns visible in alpine, now blown in. It doesn’t appear the big loading and warming event that resulted in the high danger rating earlier this week materialized in this zone. Test profile at 1650 metres didn’t show anything significant.

Group of 2 pushed our way into the Sande Evonoff provincial park. Raining in valley bottom and ran into 40cm+ new snow at the end of the kittil fsr The avalanche paths on the way in had signs of very large previous avalanches from this season. We did run into one fresh avalanche on north facing slope. We did probe 40cm before light crust layer and 70cm to hard crust layer. Snow depth was over max on probe.

MIN It was a variable weather kind of day up at Torpy, some strong south winds up high were ushering in snow squalls and blowing old snow onto lee north facing slopes. There were periods of whiteout as well as great visibility and sun. We saw three large avalanches. All were in the alpine, size 2 -2.5 on southeast through west faces. Yesterday's rain and warming event created a widespread 4cm thick crust that extends up to 1600m which made for awful riding below that elevation. The best riding was around treeline in sheltered spots where the powder was dense but still fun to ride. In the alpine the winds had ripped through and the riding was quite firm with minimal track penetration and very wind affected snow. Another group in the area told us they triggered a large cornice accidentally as well. We gave steep north east facing slopes and cornices a wide berth today just in case.