[MCR] Mt. Hector - Rockies - March 25th, 2013

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Brad White and myself skied up Mt. Hector today, here is what we found:

Weather: Beautiful clear day with no wind on the summit.  -19 at the 
parking lot at 6:45 am, warming to-1 at 14:00.

Avalanche Activity: Evidence of solar induced natural activity on the 
large south facing slopes on Mt. Andromache that threaten the approach. In 
addition, we saw a few cornice failures that occurred within the last 5 
days.  One of them triggered a deep slab on Little Hector that was 1-1.5 m 
deep and ran well onto the toe of the glacier crossing the standard ski 
line. (see picture here).

Snowpack: Snow depths around treeline were 140 cm.  On the lower glacier 
there was 2-3 of snow, while on the final slopes to the summit, the depths 
varied from 50 to 100 cm's.  We had only one whumph in a thin spot around 
treeline, otherwise no obvious signs of instability (cracking, whumphing 
fresh avalanches) showing that the basal facets are slowly adjusting to 
the new load.  A 5-10cm thick sun crust on the lower approach slopes in 
the morning allowed us to feel confident in the stability there this 
morning. 

Travel Conditions: Good skiing on facetted windslabs was found below 
3100m.  Between 3400m and 3100m the snow was skiiable, but grabby. 
Supportive snow the whole way with 5 -10 cm ski pen.

Great spring day in the Rockies!

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