April 26 - Sea to Sky Snow Conditions
Overall Theme:
Apologies for the delayed newsletter this week. We’ve had a bit of techincal difficulties but we’re back! At the moment, ski conditions are difficult - more conducive for travel than descent. There’s strong diurnal refreezes and very minimal soft snow.
Where we’ve been skiing:
Evan’s been up the Duffey and around the Spearhead. Eric has been up in the Waddington Range (more on that below).
Access is brutal. Whistler is closed and melting out. They’ve plowed summer roads in and just can barely make it to village. Blackcomb opens at 9am, and 7th heaven opens anywhere from 0930-1015 at random. Sunset blvd is melted out requiring walking. Skiing down to Blackcomb base is barely holding on. Singing Pass is dry for first 3-4km from the village.
Joffree Lakes is closed until May 15. Please respect the local First Nations.
Moats and shrunds are yawning open. Especially on any solar aspects. Shady ones (true north) are holding on ok. Lots of cornices have failed but lots haven’t - like the Benvolio to Overlord notch area. Be careful!
Weather and avalanche forecast:
It’s been high pressure and that continues through Monday morning. Monday afternoon the models break down and we expect some precip. More further south in the Baker area and likely just trace to a few cm in Squamish/Whistler.
Today is Avalanche Canada’s final forecast for our area before they switch to spring messaging. We expect possibly elevated hazard if the new snow on Monday/Tuesday is a little more than predicted And if accompanied by wind. Otherwise, the foreseeable future looks like more of the same - spring diurnal with overnight refreeze and daytime solar corn production. Watch for cornices that are definitely still lingering and wet loose avalanches in steep terrain in the afternoon.
The other hazard is also slide-for-life. Several accidents have already happened due to firm conditions and inadequate traction. It’s fully ski crampon season. Use them! Switch to boot crampons and an axe if it’s especially steep.
While we’re seeing great crust recovery overnight right now, keep in mind, we will eventually reach a point where freezing levels rise overnight and we see our first big transition from spring to summer. This is where we see big climax avalanches and will be a huge increase in hazard. We don’t see it in the forecast yet but watch for those warm nights.
Waddington Range:
Eric is just out from 6 days base camped on the Dias Glacier in the Waddington Range. We had spring diurnal conditions with high pressure throughout. Solar aspects had strong crust recovery overnight and good corn during the day. Ski crampons were critical. We observed a few natural size 1 wet loose avalanches from steep rocky terrain. Polar slopes still hold ~5cm of soft powder on a sun crust. A surprising number of cornices are hanging on despite warm daytime temps, and we observed one large serac fall from the summit ridge of Mt. Waddington.
Waddington basecamp life! What a week of high pressure and good times with a good crew.
During our trip, we made an attempt on Mount Munday, reaching the summit plateau. We skied several smaller lines around Basecamp (on Jester Peak, Brokenhead peak, and several other unnamed). We climbed the Dais Couloir and gained the Angel Glacier but found the ‘shrund on the Angel to be too complex for our size group with the overhead hazard. Overall we had an excellent trip to the most beautiful mountains in the world!
If you’re interested in next year’s Zenith spring ski mountaineering basecamp trip, be sure to reach out soon!
Dais Glacier (L) and Angel Glacier (R).
Closing thoughts:
Ski quality might leave something to be desired but it just takes a bit of precip and we’ll be back at it on high north. In the meantime, travel is easy and views are spectacular. We’ll probably have a few more newsletters here as we see interesting conditions changing.
For more information, check out Zenith Mountain Guides and our local avalanche forecast. Weather forecasts are custom from meteorologist Jason Ross. These updates are supported by SkiUphill Squamish - the best stop for ski touring equipment in the Coast Mountains and made possible by the Sea to Sky Gondola! Use this information at your own risk. Conditions change rapidly from when this report was written!
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