I just got back from 5 days at the Red Mountain cabin in Penny, BC.
Thursday, November 24th saw freezing levels up to about 1500m and extreme southerly winds at ridgetop. The trail up to the cabin had enough snow to use skis the whole way.
Over the next 3 days we received 75cm of snow at the cabin. On the night of November 26th we had strong southerly winds at treeline before shifting to moderate northerly winds on the 27th through the day as temps took a drop. We woke up to -18C this morning at the cabin elevation (1550m).
Early in the trip we observed whumpfing on wind-affected south aspects at treeline on the Nov. 21 facets down 50cm, which is now buried ~120cm. Although the whumpfing was isolated to one area, we were suspect of avalanche terrain on steep lee features at treeline where surface facets from the previous drought may be preserved. On the trip out I noted a sz 1.5 wind slab out of steep southeasterly terrain from reverse-loading last night.
The Fraser Flats FSR is currently plowed and the trail up to the cabin has great coverage. The ski terrain around the cabin has great coverage down to about 1300m, although there are many areas above that elevation where the alder is still quite present. If you venture up high this week in the Mcgregors you will find wind-pressed snow above treeline on all aspects.
