Ski day in southern goat range with ACMG Ski Guides Roger Yim and Martin Lefebvre.

Up to 25cm new snow fell overnight with light to moderate southwest winds. Below 1900m this sits on a November 18th rain crust, and coverage tapers significantly below 1600m. Ski quality was good and remarkably supportive above that line, with averages of 1m of snow on solar, and 1.3m on polar aspects. The snow was not reactive to skier traffic, and no evidence of new natural avalanches.

After Jasmin Caton’s MCR Avalanche report from the North Valhalla’s last week, we were keen to investigate stability on south.

Test Profile
South Open Bowl near ridgetop
2150m 30 degrees
November 5 rain crust down 70

Compression Test Hard (21,22) sudden collapse down 70 in facets size 2 above the Nov 5 rain crust
Extended Column Test Propagated (23) on same layer
Non planar breaks in storm snow

Snow is right side up above Nov 5 crust, which is 2cm thick and knife hardness. Above and below the crust are well developed facets, four finger hardness.

Will aim to dig in other shallow snowpack areas to see if results are similar.