[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Sir Donald Basin - Dec.23/11

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Went for my first tour in some time to Rogers Pass today - checking out the
west facing basin below Mt. Sir Donald.

 

10cms of fluffy low density snow fell overnight and during the day today -
definitely sweetened up the skiing today.

 

No avalanches observed nor any wind effect up to our high point of 2300m.
When I got off of the established skin track in the valley bottom
glades(1600m.), we experienced several whumpfs (sound of weak layer
collapsing and propogating)- a quick poke in the snow revealed the Dec.10
Surface hoar crystals (10-15mm.) under @30cms of snow which failed when I
tried to isolate a block to do a compression test on. Luckily it was really
flat here!

 

Higher up (1900-2200m), I had  less whumpfs when breaking trail and test
results where correspondingly higher with no fracture across the column when
doing an extended column test (ECT) - the surface hoar was in the 5-6mm.
size range and was overlying a faceted interface - Still found clean
fractures on compression tests (Sudden Planar). Depth of slab over the
Dec.10 interface was between 30-50cms., depending on elevation and location.

 

We stuck to moderately inclined slopes and small terrain features and
avoided larger open features (including overhead). I definitely found things
lees reactive where there were old ski tracks (and not just a few) -
wouldn't count on this too much when the slab gets thicker in the future.

 

The fast and silky snow conditions made skiing this moderate angled terrain
a real blast.

 

Probably still a good time to give the larger/steeper features a miss.

 

Have a great Holiday Season and may Santa bring you lots of powdery turns
this winter!

 

Cheers.

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

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