[MCR] KickingHorse Back Country

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

I was guiding Feb 22 up Rudi's bowl then North into the Molar's Bowl and out
an East facing run.

The South aspects, athough only showing slab near the ridgetop in the
morning, developed slab that whumphed and had shooting cracks up to 10m long
by the afternoon at treeline. The terrain we were on was not steep enough to
slide, otherwise we would have experienced an avalanche incident. This snow
failed on the surface hoar, 3cm thick, buried 20 cm down

The area was hit by strong winds out of the NorthWest.  On The North
aspects, the skiing was upside down with up to a 10 cm wind slab on top of
loose snow. The fragile surface hoar layer was down 30 cm. The previous
tracks coming from the exposed couloirs were raised and the texture of the
snow indicates widespread wind slabs in the alpine with remarkable
crossloading in the lower parts of the avalanche paths.

We carefully selected our runs to avoid convex rolls and steep terrain.

The upcoming storm is likely to make the avalanche hazard worse. The wind
slabs will likely promote wide avalanches in the next avalanche cycle.

Take care

Stan Metcalfe, Apprentice Ski Guide

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