March 31 - April 6, 2007, Kokanee Glacier
3/31/07
Canada BC
2310
2
Spent the week at the new Kokanee Glacier Cabin. Actually the word cabin is misleading in this case, lodge is more appropriate. In any case it is the most luxurious backcountry place I have been to: propane and electrical heating, hot running water, flushing toilets, shower, wireless internet, TV with VCR and DVD players. The feel is more Whistler Village than backcountry. The custodian even has 2 snowblowers with enough power to blow all snow off Kaslo Lake. Hockey anyone?
SNOW
Landed on crust, breakable to foot traffic, bearing for skis. Luckily for us it started to snow and kept snowing on and off for the next three days. It also got warmer and after a day of skiing dust on crust everything bonded well. There was up to 40 cm (15 in) of powder, especially on Kokanee Glacier. The last two days as temperatures climbed up the S facing slopes started to release, in some places the whole face/bowl came down as wet avalanche. On Friday, April 6, a snow pit on NW aspect at 2,400 m (7,900 ft) indicated low (green) avalanche potential, however, we also found 3 cm (1 in) thick ice crust at about 90 cm (35 in) with loose sugar snow beneath. This is something to keep an eye on, once the crust is gone soft route finding will be tricky.
SKIING
In general we found best skiing on NW to E aspects, the higher we went the better it got.
The Kokanee Glacier has the best skiing around and the run to Upper Joker Lake was fantastic.
Skiers right to The Battleship was awesome all the way down to the old Slocan Chief Cabin.
NE aspects of Outlook Mountain were great as well.
There definitely is no shortage of ski terrain here, you can ski anywhere and find glades, long sustained runs in open bowls, some chutes + lots of nature's terrain parks across the lake.
A bunch of pictures can be viewed on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningclouds/sets/72157600060342039/
Cheers!
SNOW
Landed on crust, breakable to foot traffic, bearing for skis. Luckily for us it started to snow and kept snowing on and off for the next three days. It also got warmer and after a day of skiing dust on crust everything bonded well. There was up to 40 cm (15 in) of powder, especially on Kokanee Glacier. The last two days as temperatures climbed up the S facing slopes started to release, in some places the whole face/bowl came down as wet avalanche. On Friday, April 6, a snow pit on NW aspect at 2,400 m (7,900 ft) indicated low (green) avalanche potential, however, we also found 3 cm (1 in) thick ice crust at about 90 cm (35 in) with loose sugar snow beneath. This is something to keep an eye on, once the crust is gone soft route finding will be tricky.
SKIING
In general we found best skiing on NW to E aspects, the higher we went the better it got.
The Kokanee Glacier has the best skiing around and the run to Upper Joker Lake was fantastic.
Skiers right to The Battleship was awesome all the way down to the old Slocan Chief Cabin.
NE aspects of Outlook Mountain were great as well.
There definitely is no shortage of ski terrain here, you can ski anywhere and find glades, long sustained runs in open bowls, some chutes + lots of nature's terrain parks across the lake.
A bunch of pictures can be viewed on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningclouds/sets/72157600060342039/
Cheers!
wireless internet - useful for weather i guess. Is there power for a laptop?
Yes. There are power outlets to recharge your camera batteries or run a laptop. The electrical system was pretty good while we were there but be aware the current fluctuates occasionaly and that might not be good for your device.
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