Conditions Report: Back to Normal-ish
The good news is that there’s snow and cold temps in the forecast! In fact, by Sunday things could be considered back to normal after what has been a wild warming cycle. Golden’s top alpine was for the most part, spared from rain to the top, but the temps definitely had their way with our bountiful pow. But all is not lost; the base is still around and there’s 13 cms in the forecast. Temps will be back at seasonal norms this week and grooming ops will be back to normal as soon as avalanche forecasts allow.
Finding some snow on Jan 29 in Silent.
Silent Pass on Jan 31
Travel
TCH-1 Highway
BIG NEWS! Highway 1 is fully open east of Golden with NO scheduled stoppages and overnight closures.: Kicking Horse Canyon Calendar
Warning! – Just east of Quartz the frost heaves are worse than ever this year. Slow down if you’re hauling weight…
There’s abrupt frost heaves just east of Quartz this year.
CALL YOUR KMS!. Please note there is a lot of industrial traffic on the Dogtooth FSR this year. Grab a radio and call up on RR27
Snow & Weather
SNOW AND WEATHER
Despite what you may have heard, Golden still got 20-25 cms of snow above 2000m this week. As we said, for the most part, the rain stayed below that mark but warming temps didn’t. There’s a mix of crusts, soft and hard on all aspects right now. The key is finding an elevation band where conditions still remain fun. There’s 12-15 cms forecast in the next 5 days and temps should be back to normal by the weekend.
snow forecast near quartz on Feb 1
Avalanche Safety
Avalanche Conditions
Avalanche path on Jan 31 in Silent Pass
Check Avalanche.ca everyday you ride!
From Avalache.ca on Feb 1: “Avalanche Danger will stay elevated as long as the freezing level stays high.”
Travel and Terrain Advice from Feb 1:
- Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
- Be aware of the potential for large, deep avalanches to run full path or even longer.
- Avoid steep slopes when air temperatures are warm, or solar radiation is strong.
- Keep in mind that wet avalanches can be destructive due to their high density.
Screen shot of avalanche danger rates for Northern Purcells on Feb 1
Grooming
Grooming
The recent warm temps have shut down our grooming operations due to avalanche dangers this week. Right now we are restricted to not groom until after Sunday. However, our forecasting teams and our grooming ops teams are very aware of the situation and are working the problem. As soon as things are safe you can count on the groomers getting back at it. Stay tuned for more info on this.
