[MCR] Evening Ridge, White Queen near Whitewater Ski Resort, Southern Selkirk Mountains

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Went for a ski tour in the Evening Ridge, White Queen area near 
Whitewater Ski Resort today.  Temps were in the -5C range throughout the 
day, although may have warmed up a bit in the afternoon.  Snowed lightly 
but steadily all day, perhaps a couple of cm accumulated while I was 
out.  The winds were moderate (strong enough to blows some snow around) 
out of the south west.  Some pockets of soft windslab were forming along 
the ridge tops above 1900m elevation.

I dug a pit on an open, east facing slope at 1900m.  In it I found two 
layers that reacted with moderate to hard compression tests. One of them 
was the November 29 surface hoar layer which was down about 60cm.  It 
failed with a sudden collapse quality, indicating in my mind it's still 
a concern on specific slopes.  More loading from this storm and others 
could make avalanches fail on it more easily. The other layer, down 
about 25cm was another surface hoar layer which formed mid-late 
December.  It too failed with a sudden collapse quality.

Another thing that concerned me was how weak the lower snowpack had 
become.  I was in a place where the snowpack was shallower than the 
average for the area (about 110cm) due to wind scouring.  When I stepped 
off my skis, a couple of times my feet plunged almost to the ground.  
The snow down there had become very faceted (sugary) - snow grains that 
don't stick together very well.  I'm wondering how areas like this 
(shallow, weak snowpack) will react to additional loading from this and 
other storms.

Despite all this, I found the ski quality to be good, although the 
coverage is still not up to normal levels.  I chose conservative lines: 
stayed off big open slopes, convex rolls, unsupported slopes and avoided 
the wind slabs near the ridge tops.

Craig Hollinger,
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide.