Kootenay Pass

La qualité du hors-piste était:

Excellente

Les conditions de neige étaient :

• Croûtée
• Lourde
• Poudreuse
• Affectée par le vent

Nous avons parcouru:

• Forêt dense
• Pentes de faible inclinaison
• Forêt dégagée

Nous sommes restés à l'écart de:

• Pentes raides

La journée était:

• Nuageuse
• Brumeuse
• Mouillée
• Venteuse

Conditions d'avalanche

• Avalanches de plaque datant d'aujourd'hui ou d'hier.
• 30 cm + de neige fraîche ou transport important de neige par le vent ou pluie au cours des dernières 48 heures
• Whoumfs ou bruits sourds ou fissures qui se propagent.
• Augmentation rapide de la température jusqu'à près ou au-dessus de 0°C ou neige mouillée en surface.

A classic early season jaunt at Kootenay Pass. We took some core samples of local rocks and in return they sampled the cores of our skis.

Multiple crowns (size 1) were observed in windloaded terrain near ridgetop, seemingly failing mid-storm on the Dec 01 surface hoar. We found this down 15-30 with SH exceeding 20mm in sheltered north-facing terrain. Limited visibility prevented seeing the extent of the natural cycle, but conditions seemed quite touchy anywhere the wind had been, with abundant shooting cracks and whumpfs. Great skiing could be found in small pockets undisturbed by the wind, if you could avoid the obstacles...

Winds at ridgetop were light from the SW with evidence of previous transport. On our final run around 14:30 we experienced the beloved meteorlogical event known as freezing rain, which by the time we reached the highway had formed a 2mm rain crust in open areas. Warming temps at lower elevations were also casuing moist snow in the top 5cm by days end.