Exploring the backyard
Deep in the Dogtooth
What a week! 100+cm in 8 days at Kicking Horse!!
Enjoyed Mother Nature's Bounty in multiple areas this week - Northern Selkirks, Dogtooth Range, Quartz Creek and of course at Kicking Horse Resort. Man did she provide!
As the week progressed avalanche conditions became very touchy. During my travels I observed numerous natural avlanches on almost all aspects as well as a few skier triggered or skier remote triggered avalanches in steeper, windloaded terrain.
Reports from around the area trickled in - natural size 3.5-4 out of the clamshell with debris piles up to 15m deep! Skier remote size 3 outside the Kicking Horse Resort boundary with a crown depth up to 1m deep! Nov. basal weakness waking up in steep rocky terrain as this new load brought buried persistent weak layers back to life. ![]()
With this info on the brain, we once again stuck to mainly treed or lower angle terrain. Didn't matter though, the skiing was awesome!!! Now we're in a bit of a weather lull - maybe a few days of sun... As we poke further out into the areas we love to hit I hope we all remember what's still under our feet...
Chargin' in the dogtooth!
Dogtooth Goodness
It never takes more than the first couple of turns to be reminded how good the skiing in the Dogtooth Range can be!
The recent storm snow has settled significantly over the last few days resulting in that silky goodness that pushes back against your skis or board as you press into your turn. We found our bounty in areas sheltered from the recent winds that wreaked havoc on exposed north through east aspects. In those areas, new cornice and slab formation made for a touchy surface instability that has not totally healed yet.
There's some great skiing to be had out there right now! Man, I love my backyard!!
Dear Santa...
I asked for the same thing I ask for every year from Santa - Please bring me POW!!
I got my wish early this year! Spent Christmas Eve floating in knee deep pow! We saw signs of recent avalance activity on the dec 11 surface hoar layer - anything steep and open had run 20-40cm deep and any steep roll that had not run was easily triggered with a quick slice. We stayed tucked in the tighter trees until the slope angle mellowed out.
Looking out the window, Santa is still delivering!! Guess tighter trees and mellow slope angle is gonna be the choice for a while.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!










