[MCR] White Queen, Whitewater backcountry - Nelson BC

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

A few observations from a quick lap of White Queen near the Whitewater 
ski area.  We skied up the west ridge from Humming Bird Pass into a near 
white-out so observations of adjacent slopes were not possible.

At 9AM in Nelson the air temperature was a balmy +2 then -1 at the 
Evening Ridge parking lot (elevation 1490m) a half hour later.  The past 
week's storm snow had filled in the up-track, but trail breaking off the 
track was easy with only ankle to cuff deep ski penetration.  Not much 
wind slab formation in the new snow even on the summit, but lots of 
buried wind slab above 1900m.  I stayed off anything steep, so didn't 
get a feel for how well the bonding was for these layers.  It was -6 on 
the summit just past noon, so it looked like the predicted cooling trend 
had started.

The ski back down on a south-west aspect was great fun on the supportive 
layers below the storm snow.  We skied conservatively, skiing steeper 
slopes one at a time and avoiding steep, unsupported terrain.  Some 
sloughing occurred on steeper terrain, but it didn't run far or gather 
much mass.  A skier coming in above the previous skier's track was able 
to cut off some blocks of slab (15-20cm thick) which would tumble down 
the slope, but this was possible only in steep terrain (>40 deg).  In 
all, a pleasant and uneventful morning of touring.

Would have been interesting to see what the various parties who joined 
us on the summit observed after they scattered in different directions 
on their descents...

Craig Hollinger,
ACMG Apprentice Ski Guide.