Day 4 and 5

On day 4 of the course we went to Christianie Trees, still in Rogers Pass. After quite a long hike in the valley we headed upwards. The snow was really moist and stuck to the skinns, making it hard to brake trail. We dug a snowpit on a east aspect at 1500m, which didn't give that interesting results. But then on 1900m the snow was complately different. At the treeline there were whoomphing and cracking everywere. All convex slopes collapsed and slid under us. We did a Rutchblock test of grade 2, an other comressions tests with easy, sudden collapse. In other words, the snow was very unstable. Skiing down north-east facing slopes were therefore a bit scetchy and we triggered couple of avlanches of size 1-2. The skiing was quite good, all though short, and the day ended with a long nd narrow luge track out the valley. This was yet another learningfull day.

Day 5 and last day of the course was set to "the Christmas Trees" and area. Again a hike up in the valley before starting gaining some altitude. A snowpit on a south aspect shoved stable conditions and a thick layer of crust burried 15cm down. Further up, the snowpack surprised even Steve, our course leader. He managed to remote trigger a large north-east facing slope anf even further up, at 2300m, he was almost caught in one himself. Skiing donw was nice and at the end we did another staged "avalanche rescue". Its getting better for each time, and now we found al the three "people" in 9 minutes =)

All in all, we have learned a lot during the course. Not only how to dig snowpits and doing tests. But I feel I have gotten a much better understanding of how the snowpack works. It will be fun to try this out back in Norway.

Digging snowpits in Rogers Pass

Driving from Castle Mountain towards Lake Louise offered a day off from skiing, a little detour and some shopping at MEC's. I got hold of the sleeping bag I wanted, while Sigbjørn found a couple of new backpack. Lasse had to buy new NTN bindings and learned that his skis are now rotten because of water in the core. We also went touring a place near Canmore with my friend Dave. There we found a few sweet, steep, north facing gullies, with fresh, untracked snow. Then it was time to meet up with our YAMNUSKA course leader in Lake Louise.

Day 1: even though it was blue bird and no wind, day 1 of the course was spent inside with theory. A bummer since we have hade allmost just cloudy weather the whole time in Canada, but still a very learningfull day.

Day 2: After a short breefing of the snow and weather conditions, we headed out aprox. 45 min of Lake Louise. First we did a lot of training with the beacons and probes. Then we hiked up around 300m. We dug a snow pit, and did different compressions tests. There were a couple of surface hoar layers around 20 cm down the snowpack. It was really interresting to see how these weak layers collapsed. At the end of the day Steve put up a scene of an imagined avalanche and we managed to find the three "people" buried in 11 minutes. Even though the time wasn't too bad, we still have a lot to learn and practise.

Day 3: Today we had a longer trip in Loop Brooke in Rogers Pass. We hiked up around 1000m in total, and dug both hasty pits and did biggers tests like a Rutchblock test, with score 6, and an extended comression test. The snowpack here in Rogers Pass is different than in the Rockies (Lake Louise). There were 3 surface hoar layers buried at about 15cm, 25cm and 85cm debth. The tests told ut that in the north facing slopes, below the treeline the layer at 25cm was the most reactive. Around the treeline that layer had probably been affeted by the wind and did not react, while the layer at 15cm was quite unstable. We did not manage to trigger the 85cm layer.

Oh Canada!

We have now spent two weeks in Canada. The first days, I spent in bed feeling sick (omgangssyke). Then we couldn't rent a car with Budget, like we had booked, because neither of us are over 25. Luckily we got a car from "Rent a wreck", even if is was a little more expensive. Finally arriving in Revelstoke, both group 1 and 2 were gathered, and we started the hunt for some real canadian powder. Unfortunately, it hadn't come new snow for two weeks, but with a little hiking and traversing one can always find something good. Revelstoke is a nice little town with a lot of sports store, so I feel like I have emptied my account on lift passes, new skis and boots, and a new jacket (but well worth the money). A few hours south of Revelstoke lies Nelson/Whitewater. Its a tiny resort with only two old and small chair lifts, and without any new snow, this is not the place. One day we hiked on Kootenay Pass, one hour away from Nelson. Here we did find some amazing snow, but it is just max. 400m elevation, so you have to put the skins on several times a day.

Back in Revelstoke, we drove up to Rogers Pass, which can offer great touring and forest skiing. Starting at 1300moh and with summits at almost 3000m, its (always) more and better snow up there. We are going to spend more time at the Pass during the avalanche course.

Wanting to see more of what Canadian skiing has to offer, my car drove down to Fernie. The snow is about the same as in Revelstoke, but personally I think Fernie has more potential. Its a lot of easily accessible off-piste skiing, which is now moguls most places. So Sigbjoern has now become a great moguls skier (kulekjoering).

Steinar drops out in powder. Kootenay Pass

Snowing in Rogers Pass =)

Quote Magnus: "Our car is so much cooler than yours"