Hi all,

today we had great skiing on the north side of highway 3 at Kootenay Pass in the headwaters of Lost creek and Wolf creek.

We skied treeline and below treeline terrain between 2100m and 1450m. We experienced periodic spring snow squalls and the area received about 10cm of new snow with temperatures ranging from -10C to -4C. We had light to moderate winds from the Southwest at ridge top, we noticed localized moderate wind transport and minor wind effect in exposed treeline areas. We skied large open glades and supported slopes up to 38 degrees, we did not observed any signs of instability. Snowpack tests showed a consistent hard resistant shears down 60-65cm below the storm slab. There was evidence of an avalanche cycle in previous 48hours however, we did not see any new avalanches.

The recent storms have smoothed out all the ground roughness and the snow coverage is currently excellent in this area, we measured about 300cm at treeline. Of note, cornices have grown significant recently, we noticed many new large overhanging cornice lips.

March is sure off to a great start, enjoy the amazing skiing!

David Lussier
acmg mountain guide
www.summitmountainguides.com