The ASG exam spent a few days skiing skiing in the Benedict creek area of the Selkirks. We skied from our camp at 1980m up to 2740m.
A small storm on April 6th brought 15 cms of new snow at our camp which was redistributed by the the strong winds and formed some wind slabs in isolated lee features at ridgeline. The significant warming and clear nights that followed brought rapid settlement, and improved stability. It felt like we had finally transitioned to a spring melt/ freeze type snowpack.

Despite the warming and high freezing levels we were still able to find excellent skiing on dry snow above 2400m on north aspects, and fun spring skiing below. The snow depth was fairly consistent throughout the area with 2-3 meters probed on the glaciers. That being said there were more exposed rocks and scoured locations than is typical in this location.

We skied confidently on alpine and treeline features up to 45 degrees. Our main avalanche concerns were focused around daytime heating and the rapid deterioration of the snowpack with the sun. We avoided overhead hazard from large sun exposed slopes and areas with cornices once it started to heat up.

Jeff Relph
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide