Chickadee Valley ECT
Snowpackphilipp.a.garber · Dec 17, 2020 · Lake Louise
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy
- Ride Type
- steepSlopes, openTrees, mellowSlopes
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes
- Riding Quality
- good
- Snow Conditions
- powder, deepPowder
Great day exploring the Chickadee Valley. Skied two Boom Mt. south slide paths (from 2150m and 2400m), and a short run on the north aspect right below Mt. Whymper. Dug a pit with confidence-inspiring results. The slide paths #6 and #7 (counting from the highway) off Boom had run in the last 12-48 hours, both to about the top of the Christmas trees in their fans. Perfect weather (cool, not frigid; calm or light winds; slight precip; mostly overcast with good visibility).
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -8
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedCalm
- Blowing Snow
- none
- Sky Condition
- brokenClouds
- Snowfall Rate
- 1
- New Snow24 Hours
- 4
- Storm Snow Amount
- 44
- Temperature Trend
- steady
- Precipitation Type
- snow
Perfect weather for a day in the backcountry.
Snowpack
- Depth
- 135
- Obs Type
- point
- Site Aspect
- S
- Test Fracture
- resistant
- Site Elevation
- 2135
- Ski Penetration
- 15
- Foot Penetration
- 35
- Test Failure Depth
- 5
- Site Elevation Band
- btl
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow
- Test Failure Layer Crystal Types
- stormSnow
We dug a pit beside the obvious boulder near the choke of slide #3 (counting from the highway) on the south side of Boom Mt. The snowpack was quite complex but the test results inspired confidence. Incline: 35 degrees Air temp: -8 (guestimate) Snowpack depth: 135 cm CTH 24 RP 30 cm. The rest of the snowpack was unresponsive to our compression test. When we levered off the remaining column, it broke off on the Biden Layer around 100 cm depth. This 70 cm chunk of column was consolidated and dense - the brewmaster in our group suggested it weighed as much as a bag of malt (45 lbs). When we threw it out of the pit, it actually rolled the whole length of the avi path without breaking apart. The layers: 0-30 -- Storm & old storm snow, no consolidation, straight blower pow. 4F. 30 -- slight (wind?)crust. F. 30-45 -- consolidated snow. F. 45 -- second, slight (wind?)crust. F. 45-75 -- consolidated slab. F. 75-135 -- mixture of ice and facets. Very dense. The snow saw was putting in work, don't even bother bringing your rutschblock cord to this party. 10cm ice layer around 115 but that depth varied across the pit. 115 is where the column eventually popped. P: 75-115, F: 115-135/ground.