Conditions and coverage check in the squamish gondola/sky pilot zone. I drove up the backside so I could roll at my own hours and drove easily to the yellow gate at 800m. New snow started at 650m but stayed below 10cm until about 1000m. The road past the gate and beyond the Gondi had patchy old snow underneath. The lower road had easy travel conditions even with only 10-20cms of snow it. A middle section became a river in last weeks tropical storm and is bare and required a bit of walking. At 1050m and higher conditions improve dramatically. At 1200m there was 130cm of snow on the ground with 30 from the last storm, right side up on a very firm base. Suprisingly excellent ski quality up high. I did not venture above 1500m so now word on wind or old/new bonding. Watch out for open creeks and be sure you don’t mind some alder and adventure below 1200m!

Just to add: it’s not a casual outing up there. Lines are limited and lots of tight trees or not enough snow in the big trees yet. More posted this as a heads up on current state of roads and snowpack heights.

Evan Stevens
zenithguides.ca