Sugar Sledding around Sparwood

Submitted by
southrockies
Observations date
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Location
49.846000° N 114.867130° W
Reporting on
  • Snow conditions
Map for Mountain Information Network report: Sugar Sledding around Sparwood

Snow conditions

Riding quality was:
Good
Snow conditions were:
  • Deep powder
  • Powder
We rode:
  • Cut blocks
  • Dense trees
  • Open trees

Information

The day was:
  • Cloudy
Avalanche conditions
  • Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

Comments

Today we rode just north of Sparwood. The day started fairly cool (around -15°C) and cloudy warming up to as the day went on, but not enough to make the surface moist. We hung out sledding in small openings and open forest below treeline as high as 2150 m. The snowpack (120-140 cm) had turned to loose sugary snow which rode like deep powder but had us watching out for buried obstacles. 30 cm of newer snow sits over the pronounced layer of surface hoar and facets left by January’s drought. We are consistently getting results on this layer in profiles and saw one long running avalanche we suspect failed on this layer. There were also several dry loose avalanches that ran far entraining plenty new snow and facets.
The faceted snowpack rode like deep powder but you had to watch for signs of objectes hidden in the snow.
The faceted snowpack rode like deep powder but you had to watch for signs of objectes hidden in the snow.
A long running avalanche on an east facing slope that we suspect failed on the January Drought interface.
A long running avalanche on an east facing slope that we suspect failed on the January Drought interface.
A good representation of the persistent weak layer left by the long period of dry weather in January.
A good representation of the persistent weak layer left by the long period of dry weather in January.