Monashee Icecap

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, stormy, warm

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes, openTrees

Stayed Away

convexSlopes, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

hard, wet

Weather

Wind Speed

windSpeedStrong

Blowing Snow

intense

Sky Condition

overcast

Storm Start Date

2024-04-01

Storm Snow Amount

20

Precipitation Type

snow

Three of us attempted to go ski mountaineering on the Northern Monashee Icecap, bet on the weather, and had to fold our hand. We accessed the area via Howard Creek on April 1st, using snowmobiles to 1800 m and then ski touring to the pin location where we established our base camp. We then endured two nights of stormy weather which deposited ~20 cm of snow with strong to extreme winds. Winds were originally from the NW switching to S, and completely buried our campsite despite our best efforts of fortification. The storm intensity and lack of visibility had us camp-bound. This area has big ice and correspondingly large crevasses, which made us hesitant to push into whiteout navigation. The deactivation ditches on the FSR melted out dramatically over the short period of time that we were in the area, making sled egress challenging. Access via this route is likely no longer feasible this season, barring a significant snowfall to low elevations.

Avalanche

Run Length

100

Slab Width

60

Trigger Type

natural

Wind Exposure

crossLoadedSlope

Avalanche Size

2

Slab Thickness

40

Start Zone Aspect

SE

Start Zone Incline

35

Avalanche Character

stormSlab

Crust Near Weak Layer

1

Number Of Avalanches

1

Start Zone Elevation

2200

Weak Layer Burial Date

2024-04-01

Avalanche Observation

12to24hrsAgo

Weak Layer Crystal Type

stormSnow

Start Zone Elevation Band

alp

Avalanche Occurrence Datetime

2024-04-03T18:00:00.000Z

We observed one recent storm slab on a SE facing moraine, appearing to have failed at the recent storm interface, running on the crust buried on April 1st. No other activity was noted despite the intense snow transport and new snow for 24 hours. A new wind slab could be felt underfoot on W facing terrain, but was stubborn to hand shears and not reactive underfoot.