Just back from a day up to the 2750m saddle near Cond Peak in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park.

ACCESS: before the next round of snow comes in, we've generally been able to drive with studded tires to ~1450m this past week in the Kootenays. We were able to drive that high today, but safer bet would be to park near the old growth trail before the FSR gets steeper.

SNOWPACK: 4cm new snow overnight. At treeline and above there was evidence of recent westerly wind effect, creating a variety of surfaces: exposed sections of the Nov 21 crust, a soft 10cm windslab, and deeper drifts in the troughs. On average, the Nov 21 crust is down 40-70cm in the alpine, with pencil to knife hardness in the 2000-2400m range, and ~1cm thick and breaking down as we approached ridge top at 2700m. Below that is a crust laminate complex of ~30cm. Average of 1m snowpack above 2000m.

AVALANCHE OBS: No new natural activity, skier accidental size 1 off a cross loaded SW gully wall @2200m that was getting warmed by the afternoon sun and warming temps.

COVERAGE: Most of the standard terrain still needs another 1m of base before the boulders and BTL are covered. Use the roads to your advantage to climb high!

Nick Waggoner SG
Sweetgrass Guiding