Sugarbowl

A group of 5 of us did the Raven to Grizzly traverse. Some starting Thursday evening skinning from the highway to 8mile cabin for Thursday night and two more of us sledding in on Friday to skin up to Raven cabin. Overall coditions were warm. Friday was slightly above 0 degrees most of the day with wet sticky snow conditions on the track. Saturday’s tour from Raven to Grizzly was bluebird and warm, 5-10 degrees for most of the day. We saw several small point releases and wet loose avalanches on sunny open slopes in the alpine. Our only skiing was from leprechaun ridge down to Grizzly cabin. We did not see any signs of instability on our brief ski down from leprechaun. Sundays ski out from Grizzly was overcast skies with snow falling at the cabin quickly turning to rain about ~100m below the cabin and raining all the way down to grizzly trailhead. The road into Raven / Grizzly is still snow covered pretty much from the parking lot at the highway.

Went up Sugarbowl with the hopes of skiing the prominent north/northwest-facing chute (Norheim couloir?) as you first gain the ridge. Was hoping the new snow would have settled by now and that we could enjoy some pow before things warmed up. Was able to skin right from the car (and my wife skied all the way back down to the car although I’m sure with the warming she will be the last one to do that this season). Snow was a bit warm/moist until about 1400 meters but above that it was beautiful. It stayed cloudy and several degrees below freezing until we got to the top. We didn’t see any avalanches. Things weren’t shedding yet. You could feel some cohesiveness in the new snow and I was able to get some results just with hand shears. There were certainly signs of wind effect at the top of the chute. I dug a quick pit near the ridge top which was more north/northeast-facing. Could see the most recent crust down 50-60cm. I got a sudden planar result at 15 taps down 30-40cm. Given that was not quite the aspect we were hoping to ski, I dug a second pit that was north/northwest-facing. Another sudden planar result down 30-40cm this time at 8 taps. Ultimately, we bailed on the skiing the chute. Sun popped out as soon as we transitioned and we enjoyed sunny pow through the trees instead. Trees and cliffs started shedding almost instantly. It was 6 or 7 degrees by the time we got to the car.

Snowed all week before our trip. Continued to snow all 3 days we where at grizzly den. Storm total was around 145cm of fresh pow. The snow layers seemed to bond very well together and no significant temperature changes as it stayed around -10 to -15. Strong wind from the northwest on our final day. Skied in the steep trees all day. No signs of avalanches. Stayed away from exposed alpine slopes.

Beautiful day for a walk, snow quality was as expected. A thick 5cm crust was present at all elevations overlying compact snow which made for terrible skiing. No signs of instability. Creek was relatively frozen over and a we able to exit out the first drainage

Warm weather conditions. Plus 1 at truck beginning of the day rising 2 to 4 degrees in afternoon. Wet snow conditions in trees until getting above 1250m. 10-15 cm of residual power on top of firm snow pack above 1250. No signs of instability in trees. The chute/slide area had several slides in and above the chute. Large release 0.75 to 1m in depth within the chute. Top 70 m of slide area was still holding snow. I avoided avalanche terrain and rode trees.

Toured up Sugarbowl today. 20cms of snow on a crust (assuming this crust formed recently due to the recent warm temps) in the parking lot. About 5-10cms on the crust on the climb up following the summer route. 35cms snow on this crust by 1,350m but the crust seemed to dissipate after that and we couldn’t find it higher up. Probed 195cms of snow at 1,600m with a crust down 85cms (December crust?). All made for excellent skiing. Good turns were had down to 1,300m. Cautiously skied all the way back to the parking lot. Snowed heavily all day.

Spent a few days at the Grizzly Den cabin (Dec 31 - Jan 2). Probed 2m snow depth at the cabin. Experienced stormy conditions with 15+ cm falling overnight each night. We rode leprechaun ridge with minor sluffing on the steepest part of the slope. Snow had been deposited from wind on the slope.

We set out to ski the Sugarbowl zone, 1 hour east of Prince George and off Highway 16 but turned around at 1050 m, 1.7 km from the trailhead due to the late hour and only about 30 cm of snow on the forest floor. We chose not to ski to avoid damaging our skis and hiked back out instead. Solid exercise overall, but there isn’t enough snow to ski at lower elevations — and likely not much more higher up. Happy Holidays.

Went for a walk up sugar bowl for the fun of it. Sunny warm day. Dry up to the 2k mark with icy melty conditions up to ~1470m where snow cover become more consistent. pinwheeling and some old wet loose observed. The hard melt freeze crust made travel pretty easy.

Today we skied up to Raven lake. We saw widespread surface hoar on all aspects and elevations sparkling in the sunlight. We had planned to ski a more exposed line from the peak to the lake but moderate winds were transporting snow into slabs at higher elevations. We took note of the new avalanche problem, pivoted our plan to match conditions, and skied a fun line that was more sheltered and free of windslabs.

Warm air aloft brought temps above 1200m elevation to above freezing. 1-2mm breakable crust formed early this morning or late last night, which made for poor riding quality. Temp at parking lot was -5 at 9am and -2 at 3pm. Low snow made for a sporty ski out, with some serious alder bashing. Up top would have been great yesterday, but the bottom needs about another 50 cm to smooth things out, probably even a meter.

Went on an exploratory mission to Sugarbowl today to investigate the quality of the uptrack and to see if we could find winter. The lower mountain is a mess- pretty well no snow in the trees from the parking lot to around 1350 m. The only snow here was the recent storm snow and it overlies frozen ground and ice. We bootpacked this section to around 1400 m where we were able to begin skinning. Drastic change in snowpack between 1400-1500 m. Above here, the snowpack was surprisingly deep (our pit was 150 cms, see photo), and is 20-30 cms of light powder on top of a 10 cm thick crust. Made for some really good turns at the top. The return downhill bootpack to the car was treacherous and icy, with many obstacles to navigate and a few butt slides. The lower mountain is very dangerous and not to be taken lightly- we knew what we were getting into, but the hazards of the lower mountain make any mission into the alpine very serious. I would not recommend travel unless you are confident managing a variety of hazards both on your skins and boot packing, in both directions.

110 cm total snowpack. Decent skiing in upper elevations, icy and crusty on lower half of skin track coming out.

around 30-40cms at the raven lake cabin, lots of moving snow from fairly extreme winds high variability in depth up to around 80cms in some areas of wind deposits, ridgetops and fetch areas were almost bare. snow was fairly heavy due to temps hovering just above zero. talking to some hikers coming out most of the snow must have fallen the previous evening (friday to saturday) and had mostlly stopped by the time we started up the trail saturday. avoided ridgeline due to wind but no sign of natural avalanche activity in any areas with significant wind loading

Good day out at Sugarbowl. About 10cms in the parking lot. Walking through the forest down low was no issue. A stiff wind slab became apparent under the fresh snow around 1,650m. Dug a pit near the top at 1,730m or so. Hard ice crust 90cms down. 25cms of fresh snow sitting on a wind slab about 10cms thick. Wind slab and fresh snow on top all slid off on the first tap (sorry for the lack of technical terms). We then stuck to the tree skiing below us. Ski quality was great until approx. 1,200m.

We took advantage of the relatively low avalanche hazard to ski a steeper north facing alpine line at Grizzly Den. Recent strong wind has hit the area hard, and while the ski quality wasnt that great up there due to the wind effect, you couldnt beat the views on a sunny day. There was still powder to be found in sheltered trees on shady slopes. The sun from today created a thin sun crust on south and west facing slopes. We also noticed some new surface hoar growing up high in isolated spots, hopefully that gets blasted away by wind before it gets buried amd becomes a new weak layer!

We call this area Sugar bowel because conditions are often, you know, shitty. Ok skiing above 1300m. Moist and sticky further down then wet below. There had been a fairly recent avalanche cycle. Debris in the Norheim Couloir and Lower Intestine, (photo), was covered up by about 30cm. Lots of SW wind at ridge tops loading up the start zones. Temperature below freezing above 1400m.

Just a great day to grind up ol Sugarbowl. Pretty dam cold, which led to to us trying to find steep slopes to actually get any turns in to keep our speed up on the way down. Bluebird day made for some nice views but that N aspect was not the right call for the day! No signs of recent avalanches, tough going on skin track up due to recent snowfall being full of facets. A bit of wind affect in spots around treeline. All in all, a nice day, but terrible skiing.

40-60cm fresh at the ridge, beautiful calm day. 220cm depth with significant instability. ECT- 160cm slid with backcut. We chose to ride in the trees near the skin track. No signs of failure.

Early season conditioning tour up Sugarbowl. Attempted to skin from the parking lot but pretty shortly ended up booting until about 1500 m. Snow depth up top was around 75 cm, leaving lots of brush exposed. Skiing was... bushwacky, but the snow quality up high was fine. It alternated between freezing rain and snow during the day, with temps dropping slightly over the day. Quick CT gave no results, seems to be pretty good bonding with the crust down 40 cm. More pit info in snowpack section.

Found some touchy new snow up Sugarbowl area in the Cariboos today. Lots of shooting cracks and whumpfing sounds as well as a very recent size 2 avalanche in the area. The area recieved around 35cm overnight which brought the total recent snow amounts to 80cm! It was navel deep when you stepped out of your skis. The skiing was great up high near treeline but got more and more mushy and wet the lower we dropped. Hopefully the warm temperatures make this storm slab avalanche problem disappear in a few short days. We played it safe and kept to low angle trees where we found some great skiing today.

We decided to ignore all the beautiful sunny weather in the province today and go skiing in the only cloudy, snowy place out there. Exploring in the Dome Creek area we found no traces of the January 12th surface hoar which has been found in the southern and western parts of the Cariboos. We saw one windslab avalanche out of a large alpine north east face, which we suspected had occurred during the wind storm on the 19th as the fracture line was partially blown in. We also came across an impressive glide crack release around 1750m on an east facing slope which had failed on the ground up to 2 meters deep. We suspect that avalanche failed just before the last storm around the 18th, as there was about 25cm of new snow on the ground beneath it now, and in some spots the wind had almost filled in the fracture line. There were many other glide cracks visible on neighboring slopes that are still hanging in - but we felt it was probably a good idea to continue giving those a wide berth. Some decent skiing to be found once we'd dropped a little ways down from the ridgetop into less wind affected snow.

Quick tour up Sugarbowl to get a half day of turns in and see how the snow over the past week has been bonding. Pit at 1440m on N aspect treed slope had HS 290 cm. Easy to moderate results in compression tests: CTE9 down 14cm, CTM14 Sudden Plannar down 64cm on what looked like 2-3mm mod. rimed precipitation particles and faceted grains. ECTN 21 down 64cm. Our main concern was that week layer down 64 cm, so we kept it a relaxed day. Low angle treed skiing was still quite enjoyable and the lower sugarbowl outtrack isn't a complete death luge, so bonus there! Looking forward to seeing the recent storm snow hopefully bond well with an otherwise well consolidated snowpack in this area.

Lots of whumfing today. 80cm of powder. We just stayed in mellow trees around 1200m elevation.

Half day to scope out areas for future training events, popped out of Purden Ski area bounds and dug a study pit. The recent freezing rain/mix reached up to the mountain top around 1330 m. Snow depth (HS) was 156 cm in our sheltered meadow pit at 1330 m. Two CT's: CTH23 down 35 cm on decomposing fragments and rounded grains, second column gave CTE4 down 8 cm on ambiguous snow interface. ECTX (no failure or propagation). Layers were a bit more elusive here. Skiing BTL is rowdy.

Quick trip up to Sugarbowl ridge. Still pretty slim down at valley bottom. The recent storm cycle has brought 30+cm of new snow and it was skiing all time. First run was lookers right off the ridge in mellow trees. No signs to cause concern. Second run was in the steeper trees on lookers left. Snow quality was amazing and again no signs that caused concern except maybe some sluff management. There were signs of recent sluffing in the chute and possible recent slabs that had been covered by the layer of new snow.

Hiked 2.3 kms until skinning up at 1330 m, then skis on, very little snow below 1300 m. Snow depth dramatically increases reaching 120-150 cms by 1450m and 150-180 1600-1700m. The upper 10-15 cms would sluff skiing any terrain >30 degrees, and failed at CTE5, whereas there was a sudden collapse/failure at the Nov. 22 crust at CTH4(SC). Open areas had wind effect features---sastrugi-like, and there was a small crown in the chute with signs of a small amount of material at the foot of the slope.

Didn’t notice any signs of instability on the way up, what looked like one little loose sluff on a steep slope under some cliffs, but it was not the best visibility

No signs of avalanche activity or indicators of instability. Best ride I’ve experienced at Sugarbowl EVER! Get out there while it’s good!

Skied one of the bowls out at Viking today. 175cm near treeline. No results on our CT or ECT but there are a couple ice crusts in the snowpack. One is 2cm thick and 30cm above base and the other is <1cm and about 80cm above base. Otherwise the snowpack consisted of very strong rounded crystals and about 20cm of loose snow on top. There was quite a lot of hoar frost that had grown in sheltered areas in the trees but none in the open where it was quite windy. Riding conditions were consolidated powder and wind affect. Good times to be had!

Skied some of the chutes out at Viking today. Not much snow at the trailhead so had to boot pack a bit. Pretty messy in the trees. Lots of sticks and such everywhere. Once we got up high there was a number of quite evident crowns on the North aspect that we were on. Appeared to be areas that have seen fair amounts of sun though. They were consistently on slopes that looked to be pretty well right between 35° - 40°. Tried to attach a picture but not sure if it worked. Lots of big cornices that are still melting away and breaking off. Snow in the shade up high was boiler pan ice. Still some good missions to be had out there.

Nice day at Sugarbowl. Good skiing up high. Pockets of wind slab near Juicy Bowl. In open areas there is a light crust on surface from freezing rain. Not enough snow to ski down the final 1.5km.

Skied West exposure in the bowl above the lake. 150cm on the ridge. Wind blowing up the bowl and depositing on the backside. 20-30cm of pow in the gullies/low spots and ice crust in the ridges/spines. No signs of instability. Had to walk halfway back down to the highway. Only about an inch or two of snow in the trees at the trailhead.

Skied up the N aspect of Driscoll Ridge from the W end. Minimal cracking in snow surface below treeline increasing with elevation and exposure. On the upper S aspects a thin crust was developing from sun exposure but snow and frost did not appear to be melting in most areas. Hoar is developing in shaded areas. Pit dug at 1780m on N aspect in the shade (-5°c) total 125cm deep. CT 13, class 1 shear on crust 40cm down from surface and CT 24, class 2 85cm down on early Nov thaw.

Skied the bowl down to the lake and then the chute and out. Skiing was great in amazing snow with many faceshots but there was a noticeable change when entering about 1500m the snow became thicker and heavy. Very moisture laden.

As one may expect, there is very little snow in the forest on the Sugarbowl trail. We were able to ski for most of the first km and had to walk up to 1300m from there before putting skis back on. Snow depth at 1300m is 35cm. Above 1500m, snow depths range from 110cm to 150cm. Had a look in the snow at the top of Norheim's chute where we had repeated moderate sudden shears down 50cm on 10mm surface hoar. Stepping out of the pit we had a whumpf. We decided not to ski it and carried on back down the shoulder and experienced great skiing in the classic Sugarbowl trees. Kept skis on down to about 1300m, where the Rhododendron was too fierce to continue and we walked relatively easily down to the truck.

No visibility, strong winds and storm slabs kept us below Treeline today. We choose to ski sheltered low-angle terrain at Raven Lake. Below 1300m the snow was moist and a breakable crust was forming.

With a mountain weather forecast of heavy snow for the North Rockies and North Cariboo we decided to check out the action. We snowmobiled to the Raven Lake trail for a ski. Unfortunately, the freezing level was still too high, and it was pouring rain at the trailhead. The shallow snowpack was isothermal and unsupportive. So we adjusted the plan and continued on snowmobiles to scout out where the freezing level was. We found it at about 1300m.

Went for a tour/ski/walk on Monday at Sugarbowl. I was able to skin from the parking lot without too much trouble and went up the summer route. Made it to 1,575m where I found 115cm snow depth. Good ski quality and coverage above this elevation and down to about 1,400m in the forest where I skied. Got sporty down to 1,300m. From there I put my skis on my back and walked to the parking lot as I did not think it was safe to continue skiing due to lack of coverage. Likely about 30cms of new snow from the weekend storms.