Conditions Report: Warming Winter Wonderland
Snow coverage in Golden is quite good right now and there is a lot of fresh to be had. We had another 20-30cms of fresh this past week and that added to the serious storm accumulations of 2 weeks ago. The cold snap we’ve been experiencing has kept a lot of people away, which has preserved the honey holes and they’re ripe for the plucking. Things are going to warm up around these parts this weekend, finally, and this weekend temps may climb up in to the minus single digits. There’s a slight wind skin on the alpine and avalanche conditions up high remain at considerable. Grooming is in full force with operations as needed.
Pow in Gorman Area on Jan 18.
Gorman views on Jan 18
Quartz meadows on Jan 16
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
CALL YOUR KMS!We had a complaint come in this week about recreational traffic (a sledder) driving like a maniac on the Dogtooth FSR. Please note there is a lot of industrial traffic on that road this year. Grab a radio and call up on RR27
Logging trucks going both ways on Dogtooth FSR (Gorman).
Snow & Weather
SNOW AND WEATHER
There is a lot of nice fresh out in them hills. On leeward aspects we are probing between 170 and 200cm. On windward aspects there may only 70! We have early winter coverage, which means there’s quite a bit of snow but there’s still some lurking hazards. There’s 7cm forecasted in the next 5 days.
Thank goodness it’s warming up and the days of packing 3 puffy jackets and 4 balaclavas are diminishing. Props to everyone who braved the cold and were rewarded with sweet pow. Now the rest of us can have at it.
KHMR reported 15cms in the past 7 days.
Snowforecast near Quartz on Jan 18.
Gorman on Jan 18
Enroute to Cirque on Jan 18
Avalanche Safety
Avalanche Conditions
Check Avalanche.ca everyday you ride!
From Avalache.ca on Jan 18: Recent new snow and moderate winds have built fresh slabs at higher elevations on a variety of aspects.
Travel and Terrain Advice from Jan 18:
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
- Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
- Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you’re most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
Avalanche.ca screen shot for Purcell mountains on Jan 18
Grooming
Grooming
The cold has not been kind to our machines but yet we’ve still got nice flat trails. Huge thanks to the grooming crew that make it happen. All 3 trailhead staging areas of Quartz Creek, Gorman Lake and Silent Pass are in working order.
Nice groomed trail on Jan 16 in Quartz
