I spent yesterday at Jumbo Pass and Saturday in the Catamount/North Star Glaciers area.

Yesterday was a very stormy day with moderate winds and heavy snow (between 1 and 2 cm per hour all day) in Jumbo. Ski conditions were 10/10. The knee deep trail breaking definitely paid itself off. We skied trees and pillow lines to 45 degrees, but avoided large open slopes and overhead hazard. On the ride out, I noted a recent (within the last 6 hours) size 2.5 avalanche that originated in a steep start zone and ran 3/4 path on a south facing slope - which confirmed my decision to avoid overhead hazard.

The Catamount and North Star glaciers, on the other hand, are extremely wind affected and hold, what I would say, no good skiing. I did note 2 sledder accidental avalanches in areas that are known to slide frequently and a lot of sledders hanging out in areas that I personally would never choose to hang out and eat my lunch.

Anyway, the moral of the story, even when you see 2/2/2 or moderate avalanche conditions, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a chance for avalanches to occur naturally or by skier/sledder traffic. Conditions are ranging between epic and not skiable. Choose your terrain correctly and you will be rewarded with excellent skiing, choose incorrectly and prepare to have your fillings rattled out skiing over sastrugi.