It is early season in the South Rockies and there are a few things we know for sure. Our field days in the Harvey, Three Sisters and Koko Claims areas have revealed a shallow snowpack. The top half of the snowpack is weak and sugary due to our recent cold dry weather and there is a buried weak layer made up of surface hoar crystals and facets. These kinds of crystals sometimes have a habit of persisting in the snowpack for a long time.
Aside from windslabs, the current snowpack condition is not terribly threatening due to a lack of consolidated snow above this weak layer. Once it is buried by our next winter storm we may see dangerous slab avalanches.
We will keep our eye on this layer.
Just as we take it easy early in the season because of the shallow snow, rocks and stumps, we also approach the early season with caution from an avalanche perspective. We need to get to know this year’s snowpack and build confidence before we move into bigger terrain and our favorite lines.
We will be out four days a week in the South Rockies making observations and getting them into our Public Avalanche Forecasts.
Jen, Martina and Gord
