[MCR] North Blue- Cariboos

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

North Blue River - Cariboos

Wow! The big storm of the winter (maybe), dropped over 140 cm of snow  
at 1224m and around 200 cm at tree line elevations. For the majority  
of three days it snowed between 2-3 cm an hour.
Total snowpack height at TL is well over 3.0 m and 2.4m at 1224m.

There were several mid-storm shears producing natural loose  
avalanches at all elevations and aspects up to size 2.5 and running  
full path. There were some isolated full storm snow slabs releasing  
naturally at the interface from Jan 11th on both TL features and  
along the creek banks. This interface has spotty SH which is sitting  
on a denser layer and is now buried over 1.0m or more.

The majority of the storm was very calm at tree line and below tree  
line but I would expect the ALP certainly had some wind, especially  
at ridgelines.

The air temperatures remained constant between -10.0c to -14.5c  
during the majority of the storm. Then yesterday (Jan15th) the air  
temps rose in a few hours from -14.0 to -.08 which also produced a  
few mm of rain between 1000m and possibly up to 1600m. This  
dramatically changed the storm snow loading properties. There is now  
a rain crust in this elevation band that is anywhere from 2 cm to a  
few mm thick (skin).
There was a very strong inversion yesterday with the warm moist air  
trapping all that cold air in the valley bottoms.

We had very limited obs from the alpine, however yesterday during a  
brief window of visibility we did not see any huge slabs in the start  
zones but tons of full path loose sluffs to size 2.5.
Our biggest concern is the spotty buried surface hoar layer at the  
storm snow interface from Jan 8th to Jan 11th. I was able to remote  
trigger the full storm snow slab in skiable tree line glades, these  
would run fast and far until the slope angle changed.

Leaving the North Blue yesterday we stayed well away from any  
avalanche path run outs and below treeline steep short slopes and  
terrain traps.

Foot pen is over 100 cm and trail breaking is silly but we are  
suckers for punishment.
So, find a nice place to tree ski, set in a track and get your laps  
in until the snowpack gains some equilibrium. The face shots are  
amazing!

Dana Foster Ludwig
Ski  Guide
CAA Prof. Member
Snowy Mountain Alpine Tours and chalets
Blue River - Clearwater BC
P 250 674 2988
www.snowymountain.ca




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