Rockies Conditions 27-Jan-17

After the refresh last week it seems we’re back on track to the classic rockies rotten snowpack. Everywhere is reporting last week’s storm snow (40ish cm) sitting on a midpack of facets, making things nice and difficult to predict. There’s also widespread surface hoar developing, which isn’t a problem right meow but it will be in the future.

The 93N and areas around the Divide are reporting decent skiing in all zones but there’s been plenty of 2+ naturals over the week to keep people out of the steeper alpine areas. A couple of parties have had some good skiing up on mellow alpine slopes.

I haven’t heard much noise coming from Kananaskis lately so I went out there so you don’t have to. I encountered a snowpack with depths from around 80 to 15cm(!) at treeline. I guess it’s variable? The 20ish cm of recent storm snow is slabbing up nicely so keep an eye out for shallow areas if for some reason you decide to head out there. I heard a whumpf in a 30 degree open clearing at treeline on a S aspect. Ski pen was around 10-15cm which made for decent skinning. Beware facet holes.

This valley is a solid choice if you've only got a couple of hours to spare

Ski quality was quite nice high up at treeline/alpine but degraded quickly as the trees thickened. Below the trees was a facet fest but we’ve all probably got enough experience skiing them by now to make it a good time.

If you’ve got time this weekend you might as well head to Rogers. If not, good luck finding some good snow and let us know where you end up!