[MCR] Bugaboos to Beaver-Duncan Divide Traverse, April 15-23, 2012

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Just finished guiding a spring ski traverse from the Bugaboos to the Beaver-Duncan divide along with Tom Wolfe.  Some great ski descents, nice views, a mixed bag of weather and a fun group made the trip very enjoyable!
 
We had reasonably good travel conditions throughout the trip with a series of small storms providing soft trail breaking and our main avalanche concerns prior to yesterday were for wind slabs and buried sun crusts from brief storms along the way.  
 
We did a couple of detours to avoid these wind slabs.  The most notable of these was a nice option to bypass Malachite Col by way of the Carbonate Col to the East at Grid Reference 496500 5648400  .  Moderate angled S slopes lead easily up to the col from Malachite Creek and then a nice ski down the N side intersects an old mining road at about 2020m which takes you quickly to valley bottom and an easy tour up the Bobbie Burns creek into International Basin.
 
We originally intended to continue on to Rogers Pass but the dramatic warm up we experienced yesterday caused us to re-evaluate things.  We had a minimal freeze overnight at valley bottom and no freeze in the alpine.  Temps rose to +15'C in the Beaver Valley and we observed a widespread natural cycle of loose wet slides on all aspects and elevations up to size 2.5.  These started to run by 0900 and continued steadily throughout the day.  With the warm temps looking to continue for some time, our access to the larger objectives in the area was severely limited and we opted to minimize the valley bottom travel and head home a little early from the Beaver-Duncan divide.
 
Until it cools down again I would be cautious about any exposure to steep slopes especially below 2300m, as well as shallow rocky areas, direct sun exposure or slopes threatened by cornices.  This is the second major warm up of the season and there is still a lot of winter snow to move around as it settles out.   

Still lots of snow at all elevations and the glaciers have excellent coverage which allows for good travel up high once it cools and should provide an extended spring touring season in the alpine.  Enjoy!
 
Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.banffmountainguides.com
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