[MCR] A little good news from the Monashee Mountains, West of the Perry River, NE of the Gorge ski touring area, January 15th, 2011

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

If only to add a discordant voice to the steady stream of avalanche bad news, here is some good news from a very small corner of the Monashees. 

I have been cat skiing for the past week just across Craigallechie ck from the "Gorge" ski touring area and the "Queest" snowmobiling area. Between 1500 and 1900 m elevation we have been skiing steep terrain with increasing confidence throughout the week on everything but steep south facing terrain. Much of this terrain we have skied fairly steadily all winter but, in the past 3 days we have been exploring previously unskied terrain up to 50 degrees between those elevations. Today we had almost no sloughing, no cracking and certainly no signs of any avalanche activity. (Other than closed highways and the CBC)

We simply haven't had time to get into our steep south facing terrain to look at a suncrust with a thin weak layer above it from early december. It is now down approx 1m so we won't be taking those tests lightly.

This information really does only apply to our specific terrain. It does make me think that I would have gone ski touring at the Gorge with my eyes wide open, but at least optimistic for safe skiing on challenging terrain. The forecast for warming temperatures and more snow means we may be skiing very different terrain tomorrow.  

So, don't hang up your skis just yet, conditions are appalling in many places right now but in some places, skiing is still a pretty good idea.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide
laristan at telus.net