[MCR] Mons Icefield Area - Rockies - Jan. 13-15th

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Brian Webster and myself spent the last 3 days ski touring out of the Mons 
hut at the head of Icefall brook in the central Rockies. We skied in the 
alpine on Division peak and Mons peak  between 2900 m and 2000 m. Here is 
what we found:

Weather: We had mostly clear skies with temps warming from -20 to -7 
throughout the three days. It snowed 2-3 cm during the night of Sunday the 
13th. Winds were calm on the 13th and 14th and picked up to moderate 
gusting to strong from the NW today. We observed a lot of snow being 
transported in the alpine today.

Avalanche Activity: Sometime before our arrival there had been a down-flow 
wind event that caused a natural avalanche cycle and created widespread 
wind effect in the lower alpine. Other than from this, we saw very little 
avalanche activity in the area and on our flight in along the divide from 
Lake Louise. We experienced one 'whumph' over the three days in a shallow 
snowpack area near some rocks. 
Conditions changed this morning with the increased NW winds and we noticed 
several loose snow avalanches and slabs to size 2 in the Mons area and on 
our flight back along the Icefields parkway corridor.

Snowpack: Snow depths generally ranged from 2-3m, although we noticed some 
scouring to glacial ice on high elevation N facing glaciers . We dug 
several pits on the SW aspect of Division peak and noted moderate range 
compression test shears down 30cm at a storm snow interface and hard range 
compression test shears down 55cm (likely at the Jan. 6th interface). 

Travel Conditions: Although there was extensive wind effect in the lower 
alpine, we were able to find good skiing on facetted powder between 2900 m 
and 2400 m in sheltered SW aspect bowls. Ski penetration ranged from 10-20 
cm. 

We skiied terrain to 40 degrees, but stuck to supported and/ or smaller 
slopes. On the 13th and 14th, we rated the avalanche danger as moderate, 
and today bumped it up to considerable due to the rapid wind loading. Our 
primary avalanche concern was triggering windslabs in unsupported terrain. 


Beautiful area, and a well stocked and warm hut!

Ian Jackson
ACMG Aspirant Guide
Visitor Safety Technician
Banff, Yoho, Kootenay National Parks
www.parksmountainsafety.ca
www.parcsecuritemontagne.ca
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