Renshaw

With spring's deeper snowpack and longer days we decided to go check out a more remote area. The Cushing valley, off the Morkill, provided great views of North and South facing slopes. With clouds that kept the temperature cooler and no wind, we didn't see any new avalanche activity. We did see that the recent warm temps are eating up the snowpack on southerly aspects and leaving a crust everywhere but northerly tree line and above.

We had a sunny spring day at Renshaw. All that sun made us cautious of steep, southerly slopes in the afternoon but we didn't see any new loose wet avalanches from today. Away from direct sun the snow was dry and cool so we felt comfortable stepping into bigger terrain.

The snow and the weather couldn’t have been better! -10 start to the day, high of about-5. 20-30cm of light dry powder on top of a supportive base. No signs of instability.

We observed new snow from 20cm-60cm throughout the day in sheltered tree areas. This proved to be the playgrounds of choice for the day. Some alpine slopes what would be typically wind loaded had been drastically wind swept from change of wind direction. No new avalanche activity was spotted today, though some recent releases were seen snow covered along our path of travel. Although other groups were seen riding steeper alpine terrain without triggering releases, care should still be taken when crossing through exposed areas. Plan your path.

Today we went to McBride Peak. Some fresh powder over a well settled snowpack made for fun turns. In the trees we felt comfortable skiing steep open features. We stayed away from the alpine because we saw a lot of wind transport there yesterday and suspected windslabs.

We sleded at Renshaw today and got to see the weather moving in. Moderate southwest winds were starting to redistribute the recent storm snow. We'll be the look out for wind slabs tomorrow but today it was just the low visibility holding us back.

It was a stormy day at the Renshaw. Strong winds and new snow were forming slabs along the ridge crests. We didn’t see any new avalanches but we couldn’t see into the alpine in the poor light. There was limited cracking from our sled skis in open, windy areas around tree line so we went looking for shelter areas to play in. What we found was some honey holes where the new snow was well over the hood. Away from the effects of wind, we felt confident enough to play on some steep slopes now that the storm snow is bonding in the mild weather.

We installed the weather station today. Weather data can be found at https://avalanche.ca/weather/stations/6 We tentatively explored the area given the amount of sharks still around with an approximate snow depth of 1 m. The snow was powdery and we didn't find any wind slabs on exposed ridges. Other riders were going after it, with lines all over the place. During brief clearings we looked far and wide and didn't see any avalanche activity.

The North Rockies near McBride were showing off in the sunshine this morning. The continued low avalanche hazard allowed us to sled around the alpine enjoying the views. In the afternoon broken cloud cover limited the effects of the sun and kept the snow cold so loose wet avalanches and cornice failures weren't an issue. We still used safe travel habits by moving through areas one at a time where we were exposed to cornices overhead and we regrouped in safe areas. We saw a few old loose wet avalanches that came down last week but nothing resent. The riding was variable with a thick crust near the surface and some wind effected snow in more exposed areas. Still a good day in the mountains!

The avalanche in the photo was caused by a cornice dropping off. The whole face slid, it was probably 20-30 feet in depth. Had come down earlier this morning

We rode in the North Rockies out of McBride today. There is now 20cm of fresh sitting over the late March crust. Even so, the riding is still best above 1900m (ALP/upper TL) where the crust tapers off and it’s all blower. Light, southerly winds had not affected the snow much but we were still wary of slopes immediately below ridge lines and of traveling below cornices. The scattered clouds cast flat light in the alpine making the riding tricky at times, but there was still enough sun to warm the surface in the afternoon. This made the snow feel much heavier but did not affect it enough to become a problem. We saw no recent slabs but plenty of loose dry avalanches in steep, rocky terrain. We had a great day of alpine riding and exploring the zone.

It was a whiteout when we arrived at the Renshaw today. We stuck close to the cabin in the morning, riding in the trees and digging a quick profile while we waited for things to clear up. About 5cm of new snow was being shifted into slabs by the westerly winds at upper elevations. This wind slab sits over a recent crust and is quite touchy. Once the clouds broke up, we could see few small natural avalanches. We also managed to trigger a couple avalanches on small test slopes 20-50cm deep. With a reactive slab and fleeting visibility, we stuck to small features and limited our time moving under large slopes.

There were several natural and sled triggered avalanches in Renshaw from the last couple of days. Notably all were on east facing slopes in the alpine that had seen some loading from recent southwesterly winds. They all failed on a layer of surface hoar that formed in early March and is now buried on average around 30cm. This layer is likely to get more reactive and easy to trigger with the forecasted snow and windloading over the coming days.

Slow moving slide on moderate slope

There was impressive new surface hoar growth in the Renshaw today. This could be a new layer of concern once it gets buried by the next storm. The sun was out and the temps were warm which caused trees and rocks to shed their snow creating "pinwheels" on sunny slopes. Though the cloud cover in the afternoon kept the loose wet avalanche problem to a minimum, we saw a few wind slabs that were from the last 24 hrs, one of which was triggered by a rider on Showoff Hill by the cabin. We found good riding and fresh tracks in the less travelled areas in some of the back bowls.

Recent avalanche activity in south renshaw looks like storm snow from last weekend, rain crust was anywhere from 45-80cm on west facing slopes, much deeper on north facing slopes, had a bit of a failure on 15th hit on the west facing slope where the crust was only 45cm down. Decided to ski the north slopes, it was a good decision. The sun was starting to affect the snow quite a bit by mid afternoon so expect crust on cold mornings.

Skied up from around km 16-17 on the Cushing FSR. Went up to around 1860 m then had some of the best turns we’ve ever experienced coming down through a older burn. No signs of instability on our run, but we kept it to slopes below ~30 degrees. Face shots and Devine loveliness under our feet made for a day to remember. Further snow pit nerdiness in the snowpack section.

Found several cornices forming on north facing slopes. Upon further inspection of one we found shooting cracks while walking near them. High wind gusts (50km/h+) from the south, open areas were wind affected and crusty from blowing snow. Low visibility above 1500-1600m. Deep snow loading in lower elevation in trees areas (40cm).

Not all days go as planned. We got skunked on good skiing while trying a new area in the Cushing today. Dense timber, poor visibility and delays kept us from getting above the freezing levels at 1400m to ski dry snow. Instead we ended up sledding in mid elevation cut blocks where the new snow was wet and heavy. These warm temperatures are helping snow bond quickly to the crust but the storm slab still needs more time. We also watched for steep slopes near the valley bottom where rain fell making loose wet slides a possibility.

Another stormy day in the Rockies near McBride with snow piling up above 1000m in elevation, and rain/sleet pounding all the slopes below. The rain was triggering loose wet avalanches by midday and we couldn’t see well enough into the tree line or alpine to see what was happening there – but based on how much it was snowing and blowing our bets were on some reactive storm slabs forming up high. We dug a quick pit on a west facing slope around 1100m and found the surface hoar from last week buried by 45cm of snow and reactive in our snowpack tests (ECTP 13 and 22). Mostly we stuck to riding in trees and simple to non-avalanche terrain until both the visibility and avalanche hazard improves up high.

Renshaw, McBride Lots of avalanche activity around. Where we rode today, saw three recent slides. 1 of them being a substantial size. The other 2 were cornices breaking off of small leeward slopes (very little runout as the mellow slope didn’t allow for a long runout). Very windy up in the alpine from the southwest. Approx 2.5’ of powder had fallen in the past few days. Yesterday, riding quality was absolutely amazingly with the fresh powder. Today with the wind, started becoming wind affected especially in open alpine terrain. Substantial wind cross loading observed. Because of the high avalanche conditions and activity around, we chose conservative terrain which was open bowls and mellow slopes.

Best tour of the year today!

Lots of new snow and fierce southwesterly winds today were doing their best to cover up the nasty old rain and sun crusts that formed over the last few days. Temperatures were still pretty warm and the rain/snow line was hovering around 900m. Visibility was terrible in the alpine with all the sideways snow so we just skinned up to the old fire lookout and skied mellow slopes back down from there. We made sure to avoid any steep north or east facing slopes at or above treeline. We suspected the windblown storm snow was forming reactive new wind slabs there that could be prime for triggering.

We were heading for 16km on the cushing today, but lots of light dry powder on the road was plugging up our air filter and windshield.. so we stopped at 1.5km and shred the steep deep logging block.

On a quick lap up the Holmes drainage to 1860m, we experienced little in the way of wind or recent wind effect in the new snow where we traveled on north to east facing slopes up to treeline. We didn't travel higher due to poor visibility. No signs of instability, no problematic features in the upper snowpack. Feet were cold but the skiing was good and the company was great ?

We managed to squeeze in a couple hours of good powder riding up at Renshaw before the light got too flat in the stormy weather to ride. A recent strong wind event had wreaked the riding in some open alpine areas and also resulted in some small naturally triggered wind slabs and cornice collapses on lee north east slopes. We found the best riding was in lower alpine and treeline areas that had been sheltered from the recent wind.

40cm of new snow over the last two days made for some DEEP skiing in the Rockies east of McBride today. We made trenches breaking trail uphill which was a slog, but we were rewarded with some faceshots on the way down. The new snow has definitely not had time to bond yet, and we experienced some shooting cracks and were able to trigger small slabs on steep rolls. We will be keeping our line choices to slopes less than 30 degrees in steepness for at least the next day or two until the snow has a chance to bond.

Couldnt ask for better ski conditions than we found today up the Cushing valley. Blower knee deep powder had us working hard on the uptrack but grinning ear to ear on the way down. While the wind was likely forming new slabs in the upper tree line and the alpine, there was no sign of slabs up to 1800m where we toured to. In the poor visibility we could just make out a couple of smaller slabs maybe 10cm deep that had pulled out at around 1900m out of a steep and rocky feature. It snowed all day at a rate of about 1cm per hour and was still snowing as we left. While we felt comfortable skiing steep open slopes today, we suspect if the snow keeps up all night it will be a different story with a potentially reactive storm slab problem tomorrow.

There is a time and place for everything... and today was the right time and Renshaw was the right place! We took advantage of the conditions and rode complex and challenging terrain in the alpine and treeline with great views and powder all day! Even with only small and isolated wind slab problems to worry about, we still used good riding habits by only exposing one person at a time to avalanche terrain while the other person waited in a safe spot. We saw some old avalanche debris from the last storm but found no recent signs of avalanche activity. The forecast is calling for some more snow which will likely raise the hazard, but we were grateful to get in one day where we could ride just about anything!