Hi All,

We had a great day in the Shames Backcountry today March 12, 2020.

We skied treeline and below treeline terrain in the Cats & Dogs area just West of the resort on East, South and West aspects between 1300m and 700m. We had scattered skies, calm winds and temperatures in the -5C range.

There was about 70cm of recent storm snow in this area which is overlying a weak surface hoar layer. We observed lots of whumpfing but no cracking today. A test profile at 1200m on a Southwest aspect on Cats Run showed sudden moderate compression test results (11 taps) down 70cm on surface hoar to 4mm.

We saw a few new loose snow avalanche on steep solar aspects to size 2. We also saw evidence of a widespread avalanche cycle which most likely occurred during the recent storm with many reloaded crowns/bed surfaces still visible. We took it really easy out there today and skied supported lines in the 30 degree range while avoiding convex or unsupported features and overhead hazard.

All in all a great day requiring careful terrain selection. Enjoy the sun!

David Lussier
acmg mountain guide
summitmountainguides.com