[MCR] Aster Lake Area, Kananaskis Country

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Spent the past 3 days (March 28-30th) in the Aster lake area in Kananaskis Country.

Weather was a bit of a mixed bag with up to 20cm of snow falling over the course of the 3 days and temperatures hovering around -3 to -6C.  Despite the winds forecast to be somewhat calm, they remained in the moderate to strong range out of the SW throughout the 3 days and as a result, the new snow was quickly forming storm slabs up to 40cm thick in open wind affected terrain.  Average height of snow at treeline was 230cm.

Below 21-2200m a widespread temperature crust was being encountered on all aspects.  This crust was supportive while skiing but was providing a good bed surface for fast sluffing in steeper features and we were certainly avoiding wind affected terrain wherein a slab could be found overlying this crust.

We unfortunately didn't get a good look back towards Mt Joffre so can't tell you what the snow coverage looked like back there and if the face has been blown down to bare rock.  Of note, the winds in this part of the world appear to have been rather intense this winter.  Many areas were scrubbed down to bare rock and there was lots of variability in snowpack depths as you travelled.

Snow quite hard up there as we left the area on Friday afternoon.

Mike Koppang SG
Public Safety Specialist
Kananaskis Country, AB
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