Sibola's/Nine Mile Mtn.--Northwest B.C./June 29/July 12

Cool temps this spring and early summer have helped preserve the snowpack in the alpine in the northwest region of British Columbia.  Summer turns in the heat and sun at Sibola's were had on a layer of newly slushified fresh.  Ski cutting in 50 degree terrain resulted in fast moving sluffs which efficiently cleaned out and groomed steep runs.  Lower angle terrain was a bit schmooey but skiable none the less.  Snowpack cover was fairly homogeneous with consistent snow found just past the microwave area and stretched past First Bowl to Main Bowl.  The Goat featured a large detached boxcar sized hunk of cornice overhanging the run and was not skied.  A line of similar pitch was skied to the climber's right of The Goat and consistent snow was found to valley bottom.  Ski cutting this feature resulted in surface sluffs decending about 1200 vert feet...quite a spectacle.  The Waterfall run was still skiable down to the road switchback beneath.  Probing on Main Bowl revealed snowpack depths of greater than 270cms for a majority of the bowl...the convex feature halfway up/down was the thinnest area with just under 200 cms. 

After scouting out some lines from the Kispiox Music Fest in years past, a trip was made to ski some couloirs on Nine Mile Mtn. just north of Two Mile in the Hazelton area.  A very rough road brought the vehicle to an impassible snowpatch at 4800 feet and about 5 kms from the first skiable area in a north facing bowl at the main summit area, el 5800 feet.  Snow pack was minimal but some short steep shots were still in form and one basin would have provided about 1500 feet of ski potential had the entire thing not avalanched earlier in the year.  The prime time for this area was probably about a month ago when the main basins would still have contained snow.  A couple of laps of a steep headwall made for a joyful outing and some great scenic hiking beyond the main summit revealed an extensive east/west oriented ridge system with bowl after bowl of north facing terrain ski potential.  If one google earths this area, the snow coverage is similar to what was found on this trip, except for the 10 cms of wet fresh snow which was slopped on the top of the summit dome.