Fraser Peak/Big Kahuna

Quick report

olivier.clements · Apr 23, 2023 · Lake Louise

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Quick report

Weather
cloudy, foggy, warm, wet
Ride Type
alpineSlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes
Riding Quality
Good
Snow Conditions
heavy, powder, wet
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSound, avalancheConditionTemp

Great day going up Fraser Peak and skiing the big kahuna. Visibility was very mixed, with some sun in the morning, mix overcast and fog until 1, then lifting for decent vis after that. We were surprised by how warm it was. Well above zero at the car, and around zero above 1500m'ish. Some snowflakes, but mostly no precipitation and light winds. Skinning up Fraser was on very wet, crusty/hard snow that was at times icy. We encountered a decent whumpf on the way up, near a thin, rocky area, but everything else was pretty welded together. Snow in the big kahuna was great! Decent powder high up, and heavy powder lower down but still good snow (right down to Bryant lake). We found a big wind slab on skier's right halfway down that whumpf'ed and had a propagating crack that went around the skier. Staying to the center of the run seem to yield much more consolidated snow. Still lots of great skiing to be had!