+30cm (More on the Way?)

The latest storm has come to an end, and Lake Louise  ended up with around 30cm of powder that was nice and light, thanks to both the lack of wind and the -25C mountain-top temperatures. The cold also made the snow incredibly sticky, making travel on flatter areas more of an effort. The hard pre-storm snow surface was still evident in some places, but as more traffic packs the new snow into a soft base, it should set things up nicely for the next system to come through – currently forecasted to reach us after the weekend. Things are also supposed to warm up right away, with clear skies expected on Friday.

Enjoy the great conditions, and for those attending the 5th annual Red & White Ball in Banff tonight, we’ll see you there!

Snow – Right on Schedule!

It’s always nice when forecasts for snow play out as they say they will, and, as of 12:00 Tuesday, with over 10cm on the ground since Monday night and more on the way, things are looking to take a turn for the better for skiers at Lake Louise.

I’ll try to post updates on this storm both at the start and end of each day that it’s happening, along with pictures, which are always great for providing a true glimpse of the situation. Let’s start off with another of my ‘unofficial’ snow measurement stations – the quad parked outside the Mountain Operations building at the base area:

Who says a quad isn't useful in the winter?

Stay tuned!

Getting Ready for Some Snow

Our excitement at the end of last week at the weather forecasts were calling for snow early this week seems not to have been in haste, as confidence is high that Lake Louise is about to get their first significant snowfall since the big storm in early January. Various forecasts are calling for 20-35cm of new snow, starting later today (Monday) and going through to Wednesday.

Along with all the excitement, there is some curiosity as to how this new snow will stick to the current snow surface, since with little snowfall over the last six weeks or so, it has become quite packed and, in some places, smooth. This could be a concern in steeper terrain, since the new snow won’t have much to hang on to and may react fully to avalanche control efforts. Of course, whether this happens remains to be seen, since things like temperature and wind have a way of playing with our expectations. In the end, there will be lots of good skiing to be found, it’s just a question of where. I’ll be posting updates as things progress over the next few days.

One benefit of new snow that usually escapes the notice of most skiers is how it can be worked into the man-made snow that exists on runs with snowmaking. I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that man-made snow is more dense and has more moisture than natural snow, contributing to a harder and sometimes icier snow surface (the melt/freeze cycles we’ve had also contribute to this). When new snow falls on top of man-made snow, the groomers jump at the chance to mix the two together and get a better skiing surface. A snow cat will travel on a run with its front blade down, stripping the top few centimetres of man-made snow and mixing it with the new. The tiller and flaps on the rear “whale tail” then mix it further and produce the corduroy surface that carving skiers love so much. Care must be taken, however, since working the new snow too much by snow cat can break the crystals into smaller particles which pack more densely and have less air around them, defeating the purpose of mixing the two. There’s a fine line between working the snow too much and not enough, but when it’s done properly, the result can be a huge improvement in the skiing surface.

Another thing to consider when grooming a run, particularly with soft snow, is that it takes a few hours for the recently tilled snow to firm up enough so that it doesn’t get destroyed by the first few skiers. If you ski on corduroy immediately after it was laid down, you’ll leave deep ruts that will quickly mar the surface. After six hours, however, the snow has firmed up enough to prevent the deep rutting and still provide a very “carvable” surface. With this in mind, the runs that get the most traffic will see grooming first, so that they have all night to set and be ready for the following day.

You may remember a few years ago that Cameron’s Way would get closed daily around lunch time for its regular mid-day groom. We wanted to provide skiers with the chance to ride fresh corduroy in the afternoon. One of the problems we ran into when doing this was that the run had no chance to set, since we’d open it immediately after the cats were done, and the soft surface couldn’t stand up to the traffic.

For now, keep your eyes on the forecast, and be ready to enjoy some fresh powder at the Lake. Also, don’t ignore the forecasted temperatures, since they’re supposed to drop over the next few days as well. Stay tuned for updates as things happen.

The News We’ve Been Waiting For?

At the risk of getting excited too early, click on the two Lake Louise weather links on the right to see what both are saying (I always use the 2636m elevation for snow-forecast.com). Keep your fingers (and skis) crossed!

More on Terrain Openings

Well, after probably getting a few people excited about the imminent opening of new terrain in Whitehorn II, I’m afraid I have to deliver a bit of a blow to those with ‘H’ Gully dreams. After a series of discussions on the matter, the plan for Whitehorn II has changed, and it will likely be a little longer before ‘H’ Gully and environs see their first skiing guest.

The main reason for this backtrack is that a lot of intensive control work is needed to get the terrain adjacent to ‘H’ ready to open, and this would be very difficult to accomplish in a safe and timely manner if there was open terrain immediately next to the slope being worked. Also, with the way the snowpack has been behaving this winter, the avalanche forecaster wants to ensure that every square metre of the terrain receives traffic and gets its snow packed onto the slope. And finally, we realised that opening such a large piece of terrain bit by little bit is not an efficient way to go with this year’s snowpack. Every time terrain is opened, we must ensure all avalanche closures and ski area boundaries, if applicable, are in place and signed accordingly. This can be very time-consuming, and constant changes to what is open or closed means the patrollers are spending a lot of time worrying about setting fences up when they could be making faster progress on control work and getting more terrain open.

On the bright side, stability overall continues to improve, which is a trend that bodes well for expanding the list of open runs at the Lake. The recent sunny weather has made skiing quite pleasant, even though soft snow is getting harder to find (but not impossible). North-facing slopes are generally softer, since they are less affected by the daily melt/freeze action that is more prevalent on south-facing slopes during warmer weather.