Conditions Report: Who’s Ready to Sled?!
Well…what to say. The Province of BC is in rough shape right now. We are sending our thoughts to those who have been dramatically affected by the flooding the past few days. La Nina is an understatement at this point.
But there’s still some good news for some of us. Though it rained down low, it snowed up high! And if all goes as planned we will have the Quartz trail groomed by Saturday. Cross your fingers and watch Social Media for updates!
QUARTZ DISCLAIMER: The situation with the road up at Quartz for the next couple of weeks isn’t ideal, but we are working hard to make sure you can still get up there. Do what you can to help us out, as there is limited parking up at the 9k area: Carpool if you can, leave the trailer at home, and have a backup plan in case there’s no parking available.
It’s pretty excellent up there! The wind definitely got to the Alpine, but you can find excellent conditions, at treeline and below.
There was a whole lot of “stuck” going on this past weekend with the epic snowfall that we received. The young guns learned a thing or two!
Snow and Weather
The snowstorm this past weekend was real and the conditions are getting good out there! There are still some early season hazards lurking and hidden by the new snow, but they are slowly fading. There’s not much snow in the forecast for the next few days but there’s 120-180cms to be found in the trees and meadows above Quartz cabin…so that should make for good fun!
Avalanche
Up high, we saw a lot of wind, so you will definitely be noticing that. The storm slabs are slowly healing after the big storm, so continued caution is advised. There is a rain crust up to 1800m in areas and surface hoar seems to be developing everywhere! So keep that in mind when the snow comes early next week. Keep your eyes on the MIN reports until Avalanche Canada starts their regular forecasting program, November 25. The Glacier National Park forecast is up and running which is close to Quartz, so worth giving it a look!
Quartz Logging and Mine Sites
One of our local logging companies will be starting to log next week in the Quartz creek area. That means the road will be plowed and we won’t be staging from the normal parking lots for the next few weeks. Be patient as we figure out the ins and outs of this. We have new Gate Staff and new circumstances, but know that we are doing our best to make it work so you can still get out there. We MAY have to turn people away during the week if our upper parking lots get over capacity as it is NOT safe and illegal to sled on an active logging roads. WATCH THIS video about driving on active logging roads
Grooming
We might not be up and running QUITE yet with the grooming program, but check out this new machine! Thanks to @SkiDoo we were able to purchase a “New To Us” groomer. We are working on getting it up and running for Gorman this season and can’t wait! We’ve been in need of a newer machine for a while now, and we are happy to have it finally.
