snowpack summary in revelstoke

The surface hoar war,
face down the bright white places--
Fifteen degrees best.

The recent avalanche accident on Boulder Mountain near the town of Revelstoke has drawn international attention to this year’s snowpack stratigraphy in the Selkirks and Monashees. The Canadian Avalanche Center has issued special warnings regarding avalanche danger for the last three weekends.

The El Nino climactic conditions have set the stage for one of the more volatile layering structures in many people’s memory The combination of higher temps with warmer snow events interspersed with long periods of clear weather have laid down a series of significant buried surface hoar layers. Surface hoar is that beautiful sparkly crystal that forms on the snow surface following cold clear nights(different from depth hoar). If it gets buried it can create an unstable layer in the pack. As of this writing there are four main interfaces which have been named based on the day they were buried. The March 7th, The February 24th, the February 8th and the January 24th. These layers can all be found within about a meter and a half of the snows surface and as such are very reactive to skier triggering. Generally this structure is widespread throughout the treeline and alpine elevations with North through East aspects being the most sensitive. Solar aspects have a series of crusts at the same interfaces and have been waking up as radiation intensifies.

The most recent storm event on March 11th-and 12th came in with significant wind and precipitation increasing load and forming slabs over the existing surface hoar sandwich(actually more like a multi layer torte). The result has been a widespread avalanche cycle with slides initiating on layers closer to the surface and stepping down to deeper layers. This was the set up for the Boulder Mountain accident.

The take home message here is that it is not the time to get complacent if you choose to venture out. Numerous natural, human triggered, and remotely triggered(means you can trigger an adjacent steep slope from low angle terrain – sometimes from quite a distance- and sometimes from below…) avalanches are being reported daily throughout the range. Guiding operations are sticking to terrain that has been heavily skied all winter and to very low angle low consequence terrain with no overhead hazard.

This is a great time to hone your avalanche skills. Instead of focusing on skiing the big line, dig a pit in a safe location and see if you can id all the layers. You will be impressed! For current avalanche bulletins, go to www.avalanche.ca. For field reports from certified guides check out the public mountain conditions report or MCR at www.acmg.ca.

 
 
 
 

diamonds are a girl's best friend- nc heli access ski touring

Girls Trip Revelstoke!

Just finished a super fun girls trip to Revelstoke! We Skied Revelstoke Mountain resort, completed an Intro touring session on the backside, went Cat Skiing at K3 in the monashees! On Tuesday and Wednesday, I hooked up with Anna and Kim from Whitefish for some companion rescue training at Rogers pass. All in all - great gals and great fun! check out this link for the photos!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Toko.Keller/GirlsTripReve

Moot Point. Tele vs. AT

Come on people! The debate about whether AT or Tele is more virtuous is soo eighties!!! Get over it. “Free the heel free the mind”, “Randonee – French for can’t tele”, “training heels”, “fix the heel fix the problem” These are all such judgmental slogans. Do we really care this much? How about making pure joy the measure of virtue? Whoever has the most fun wins!!

Whether you enjoy the enhanced face shots from dropping a knee or the satisfaction of sticking the pedal hop on a 50 degree slope in your AT gear- or enjoying the effortless float of the untracked through the larches…all are worthy. Why do we need to fight for coolness factor??? Are we riding for our own fulfillment or to compete with others?

I took my ski mountaineering exam in Valdez with the most talented Telemark skier I have ever seen; Eric Henderson. He had zero limitations, up or down. I also know many professional ACMG/AMGA guides who prefer AT gear for the more technical ski mountaineering application. With the advent of the new free pivot toe pieces on Tele gear there is no longer the greater advantage on the up track for AT skiers. The ever evolving technology of AT gear means that it is just as light as Tele (check out the Dynafit Manaslu!) Skill, fitness, attitude and cajones define how far you take any method. Limitations, plusses/minuses- all are purely personal. Do what makes YOU happy. Do not judge others for a different viewpoint or approach!

Follow your bliss and your preferred glisse! Encourage others- promote joy not competition. You just look like a petulant victim when back biting another form of snow riding expression. Lets shift the focus from performance to joy! Now get out there and make some turns!!

life is good when you travel with great friends!

the element road trip to kimberly bc- toko helping with new pup rosie rose!!

My Hero, Sarah Yancey.

Sarah Yancey should be profiled in the Title Nine Catalogue.

Her Bio would say something like:

Mother of Alden 2, Grace 5, and recently Rosie the Great Pyranees puppy- 11 weeks. Sarah works as a backcountry hut operator. In her spare time she trains her pup to ride in helicopters, plays the cello, and makes first descents of unreal couliors. Oh and by the way- she can traverse a large table(circumnavigate) without touching her feet to the floor!!! These photos are of a first descent off of Porcupine Ridge that we named "Mother's Milk" in honor of Sarah! Go Go Snow Girl!

Girls gone skiing- boulder hut purcells

Hello All!

Check out the wonderful photos from the Boulder hut outside of Kimberly. Dear friends operate the hut. Lets make plans for next year!!!

anne

http://picasaweb.google.com/Toko.Keller/BoulderHut2010#

sorry- you might need to cut and past the address to get it to work. I am a computer rookie!!

guide training and recon north cascades heli

Hello powder hounds!!

just to let you know that the north east corner of washington state stayed cold through the last wide spread rain event! What does that mean?

65 centimeters of snow since jan 1!

I was out the last three days flying around with the good folks from nchs and a guest guide extraordinaire- Colin Zacharais from Canada. He was down to do some training and to keep us current on the latest guiding and snowpack topics. here is a link to the nchs blog to see some photos of conditions: http://www.heli-ski.com/blog/

contact me if you are interested in any programs. remember it is only 375 for a day of heli assist ski touring in some of the most spectacular ski terrain anywhere!!

lets go!

just back from whistler

hello all!

Just passed my Canadian Avalanche Association Industry Training Program Level 2 forcasting course. It was really a great course with a complex snowpack this year!!

off to Christmas in Spokane with dad - then to Crystal mountain for some patrolling fun!!

We have five gals for the ptarmigan tours trip(purcells- boulder hut) jan 31- feb6. Need one more to make the trip run! www.ptarmigantours.com Join us!!!

ciao bellas!

anne

My latest ad campaign....

North Cascades Heli- "It Sucks"

Ten reasons why you would hate it:

1. It snows too much

2. There is no grooming.

3. Mazama is the coldest place in Washington so it always snows in the winter instead of raining like in Seattle. It is just way too dry!!

4. There is no speed control.

5. Helicopters are really loud.

6. It is kind of boring because you never see any other people in the backcountry.

7. On the east side it often clears off quickly after a dump. Blue sky and powder really don't go that well together...

8. You only get to ride with four other people because the heli is so small.

9. It is really hard to see with all that snow flying in your face.

10. It might be fabulous but at least its expensive!

rogers pass

NRC Gully-

fabulous early season conditions at rogers pass! 2meters in the alpine!!

get the party started!

Powder at Rogers Pass yesterday! almost 2 meters in the alpine. Winter is here!

rock climbing and yoga retreat

Here is a trip report from the rock climbing/yoga retreat in mazama this summer!!

http://www.ncmountainguides.com/permalink.asp?id=525#525

Hey all- for more photos from last seasons all girl heli assisted ski touring at nc heli, check out this link!!

http://www.heli-ski.com/blog/?paged=3