[MCR] Fairy Meadows, Northern Selkirks, April 2-9, 2011

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Just returned from an incredible week of skiing in Fairy Meadows with a group 
from the ACC.  We were able to do a lot of great tours including the summits of 
Mt Quadrant, Sentinel Peak and Enterprise Mountain, as well as many classic ski 
lines in the Houdini Needles, off Friendship Col and on the Granite and Forbes 
Glaciers, all of which had great north facing powder!   


We had cool temperatures ranging from -7 to -11'C in the mornings and 40-45cm of 
new snow over the first half of the week with little wind effect.  This was on 
top of the 50-70cm of snow that fell late in the previous week so it made for 
great skiing and hard work on the up tracks until the last couple of days when 
the weather cleared up and things began to settle out.  The snowpack on the 
glaciers was over 320cm+ everywhere we probed and we were able to travel with 
confidence on the ice which was nice.

We skied quite aggressively on North aspects with our main concern being wind 
loaded pockets near ridge tops.  South aspects on the other hand were avoided 
all week, with large settlements, shooting cracks and a skier remote avalanche 
observed whenever someone ventured into steeper South facing terrain.  These 
were occurring on buried sun crusts in the top 100cm of snow.  Concern for solar 
triggered slides off of steep solar aspects and cornice failures as the days 
warmed up were also present.

Seems like the winter just keeps getting better!
 Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.banffmountainguides.com 
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