[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued November 13, 2015

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

 <http://acmg.ca/mcr>
ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia
Mountains issued November 13, 2015Nov 13th and winter is here! Despite the
doom and gloomers and naysayers-people are skiing where they should be--in
the Columbia Mountains and along the Rockies divide-and people are ice
climbing where they should be-on the Rockies east slope!

Obviously we are in for a big change as the forecasted storm rolls in. We
won't know how much snow falls and how the snowpack reacts for certain till
the storm ends but at 7am today(friday) it seems to have already snowed
17cm since midnight at Bow Summit on the Icefields Parkway. Some models
showed up to 100mm of precipitation for Bow Summit which could roughly be
estimated as 100cm of snow. People have already been skiing around Bow
Summit but were likely often scalping the shrubbery. At Lake Louise ski
area the ski patrol had recently been ski cutting relatively small
avalanches on a layer of sun crust and surface hoar. Those layers in that
shallow snowpack will have a very difficult time adjusting to all that new
load if it comes, which could mean (yes, you got it) widespread avalanches
perhaps even on lower angle terrain than you would expect and running far
and fast down gullies. Read the Parks Canada and Kananaskis Country
bulletins and take heed.

As you have probably already heard there was a large skier triggered
avalanche/close call on Bruins ridge at Rogers Pass on Nov 8th that
released on a facet crust layer just above the ground. Around the same time
one natural avalanche ran to the valley floor west of the pass and another
almost to the valley floor just east of the pass. Snowpack tests taken
yesterday by the good folks at the Glacier Park Avalanche Control Section
showed that this layer is still a concern and there was a reactive layer of
surface hoar then down 22cm and another down 65cm. Overnight at Mt.
Fidelity, 1905 they received 34cm of fairly dense snow with not much wind
and it is still snowing hard at the pass at 8am PST. Freezing level was
around 1000m as it was raining at the Beaver valley. All this means that
there is likely now at least a 50cm dense storm slab sitting on top of the
surface hoar and tweaking the lower layers. The wind is likely to show up
eventually and won't that make things interesting!

Ice climbing is definitely starting in the Rockies front ranges. I was on
Amadeus yesterday and it was mostly dry ground and decent but brittle ice.
It is currently calm and snowing about 1cm an hour in Canmore with 4cm on
the ground so assume that there is more falling in the mountains and that
it ain't calm. It will take a fair bit of snow to have avalanches on the
dry ground. However slightly farther west, Mt Rundle and the peaks along
the Spray lakes road were looking snowy before this storm so expect
avalanches sooner in all those bowls and gullies in Peter Lougheed park and
the Mt. Rundle ice climbs. Gully climbs in Field and along the Icefields
parkway? Forget it for now!

Stay tuned to the National Parks and K country bulletins as the storm and
the winter unfolds. Avalanche Canada will begin producing bulletins on Nov
20th. Go to their website and check out their Mountain Information network.
It is right there at the top of the page and it is a great place to see
other people's observations and to post your own observations.

This is the last ACMG MCR summary for the season. On behalf of all the
volunteers who write the summaries and everyone who inputs to the MCR,
thanks for tuning in and have a long, fine and safe winter!

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide

<http://www.arcteryx.com/> <http://www.thenorthface.com/canada/index.html>
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