[MCR] Howsons 16 February 2010

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

The dreaded surface hoar has shown itself in the Howsons. Today I 
remotely triggered two size 3 avalanches simultaneously. From the broad 
flat summit of Tom George Mountain, a whumpf dropped a 300 m wide and 1 
m thick piece of cornice onto the East flank of Tom George Mountain. We 
heard prolonged thunder, but it took us a while to safely get to the 
edge and get a view. The avalanche had run far out onto the plateau. 
Then we found out that the fracture had pulled around  the NE ridge of 
Tom George Mountain and released the entire North Bowl. Many of you know 
those lines. Today, they would have been deadly. We found some old, 
entirely degraded, but discernible surface hoar on the bed surface. The 
snow that released was storm snow. It blew fairly hard at ridgetops the 
last few days.

Yesterday we skied through Polemic Pass, which means travelling on some 
very steep and exposed south facing alpine terrain. All of this had 
released on the 13th in a widespread avalanche cycle, so we felt 
entirely confident. Today's avalanches released on steep terrain, but 
fractured into and pulled down some fairly moderate angle sections.

Right now, the good skiing is on cold northerly aspects as the sun has 
been on the southerly and southwesterly ones. It would be good to avoid 
even moderately steep windloaded terrain in those aspects that has not 
released in the last cycle, even if that means skiing suncrust.Poor 
skiing beats getting killed any day.

-- 
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
IFMGA/ UIAGM Mountain Guide - Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222	Smithers, B.C.		V0J 2N0	Canada
tel. 250-847-3351/ fax 250-847-2854 
info at bearmountaineering.ca		www.bearmountaineering.ca