[MCR] Rockies, Tryst Lake, Kananaskis country Nov, 22nd, 2012

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

White world in K-country right now. All this recent snow seemed to fall with little or no wind. 

 Poor travel below 2100m in the cutblocks and avalanche runouts with way too many xmas trees and not enough snow yet. Above that, in the open and in mature timber the travel was excellent up and down. Upper south face(Super Slope) was good skiing and felt fine since we avoided the big rolls and gullies in the upper part. The runout was just plain awful until we fought our way out of the xmas trees and into the big timber.

Snow profile in a sheltered spot around 2200m on an east aspect showed 140cm of snow and no consistent failure planes. The Nov. 6th raincrust was there about 40cm above the ground but in this one location the bond was strong to the snow above it. We did have a couple of small settlements and it has snowed a lot in a short time, so I would continue to ease into the terrain until more observations allow us to have a better sense of what is going on.

Conditions will change in a hurry if the wind comes up. And it usually does in Kcountry.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide
laristan at telus.net