Conditions Report: Dec 18 – Wawawewa It’s Good!
We’re not sure if we remember a December this good. It’s basically all-time out here in Golden these days and if you can slip in a quick trip before Christmas, you should. Last week we extolled about 2 full resets of snow, and well, it’s snowed over a meter since then! The lowest hanging fruit has been plucked so many times this month we’re starting to loose count. We feel like a broken record playing the best possible music: it’s deep on repeat! Of course wild weather means grooming ops have been subject to avalanche delays. We’re trying to get all 3 zones going by the weekend but a few things also need to go right. You can count on the fact that our team is working their butts off to make it happen. Travel has been crazy on the roads around these parts. There’s been a lot of delays and terrible conditions. Avalanche conditions remain considerable at the least and caution is required. The weather looks to continue to be unstable and there’s 50+ cms in the 6 day forecast! Wawawewa! This is what we live for…
Dangling in the Gorman Trees on Dec 14
Landings are getting soft. Gorman Dec 14
Quartz on Dec 18
Snow & Weather
SNOW AND WEATHER
It’s deep out there plain and simple. We’ve had 1.2-1.5 meters of snow in our zones in the past week and there’s another 50+cms in the forecast. But more than the total snow is what the temps have done and that’s stay at 0 or below freezing from 2000m and up. Golden is one of thee best places when a warm wet storm rolls through and this is why it’s so good here.
The other big factor in the equation is what the winds have done because not all this snow load came in light and fluffy. Winds have played a major factor and you can feel the results in the upper alpine. The best snow is in protected trees and if you do find a sweet spot that hasn’t been touched you’re in for a deep moment.
We probed 220cm at 2200 meters in Quartz on Dec 17! We’re officially at a mid winter snowpack.
KHMR Snow report on Dec 18.
Snow-forecast screen shot for near Quartz on Dec 18
Deep in Gorman this week!
Avalanche Safety
Avalanche Conditions
Please check Avalanche.ca everyday you ride!
“New snow combined with strong winds will build new slabs over a variety of surfaces and may be touchy where they are building over a crust. Select lower angle slopes, while storm snow settles.”
Avalanche.ca screen shot on Dec 18
Grooming
Grooming
Grooming ops have been dancing around avalanche restrictions this past two weeks. Quartz is back on schedule with regular grooms and Gorman has been groomed once. The idea is to get the Gorman mobile cabin moved up this week, which takes 2 cats, and then as soon as that is accomplished then we can package a cat for Silent. The Silent road as been sketchy to say the least this past week so we have to make certain we can truck the cat up there before we can start grooming there. We hope all this gets accomplished in the next week.
Gorman’s first groom on Dec 14
Staging Areas Latest Info
Quartz Creek
Quartz may be the easiest accessed mountain riding in the province right now. Park at the main lot, which is good for trailers and ride a groomed trail in to the zone.
It’s been absolutely amazing at Quartz lately. It keeps resetting and the same lines have been good day over day…
Silent Pass
It’s deep in Silent. But the road has not been great. We did hear of a much needed sanding on the road on Dec 17. But the final km from the McMurdo turn to the parking lot was not cleared as of Dec 17. We can update here as we learn how it is.
We’re trying to get a cat to Silent to get a groom going as early as Saturday but a few things need to go right.
Logging is happening past the 45km turn off to Silent Pass’s upper parking lot this year. We’ve been told this will happen till at least late February. This means that sledders heading to Silent should be able to drive to the 46.5km parking lot for most of the winter.
