Lillooet icefield conditions May 6-13

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Wet

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Convex slopes
• Mellow slopes
• Steep slopes
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Cloudy
• Stormy
• Warm

Avalanche conditions

• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Spent 8 days traversing from Salal Ck to Slim Ck via the Lillooet icefield

Had variable weather in the first half with precip at night in the form of rain and/or snow. Second half saw clear skies with good overnight freezes and cool temps in the alpine. On our exit day, temps were in the 20Cs. Observed a few large avalanches to the ground on the Salal Ck side on N aspects and S aspects on Slim Ck.

Access was easy on May 6th, on skis from the road. Salal Ck crossing was also easy but probably no longer the case in the warm up.

Glaciers up on the icefield had at least 3m of snow, in general no sags and easy crevasses to navigate on the Bridge Gl. HS in non glaciated areas in the alpine was around 2m but decreasing rapidly. Exit via Slim had thin snow coverage after 1700 m.

Lots of signs of wildlife even up on the glaciers.