Rockies Conditions in One Pic
Found great skiing in the Rockies (Yoho) on Alberta's Family Day. Things feel more than a little sporty with the current hazard. With five avalanche fatalities in North America over the weekend it's hard not to think about what's in the snow.
Poking in the snow on a SW aspect near the AB/BC boarder at ~2000m. Total snowpack was just cresting 2m with the recent storm snow/wind transport. Several easy hand shears on the way up and continuous whoomphing while breaking trail. Shovel Shear Test Easy planar down 50cm at the base of the storm snow. Compression Test Easy at the same interface. We kept to conservative terrain in tight glades and it still felt exciting.
Despite extreme wind recorded in the area we found excellent quality snow with little wind effect. The turns were amazing but a quick look at the snow pillow data for Louise or Skoki shows that we're toward the sad side of the normal range.
