March Skiing

Before I start writing about spring here are a few more random winter shots.

Lucked out at Hemlock Resort and lift-skied fresh lines until noon

Night mission on Hollyburn Mt

Pete is chasing pow at Mt Baker

Despite lack of lift line-ups the fresh snow only lasted a few runs

Backcountry next to the ski area

Mt Baker ski area had almost 3 meters of fresh snow in one week

First Day of Sping, March 20

First day of spring and not very spring-like!

Since mid February the coast has been pounded by a series of storms, associated with cold temperatures and big dumps of snow. Last week Grouse had 167 cm, Whistler 170 cm and Baker comes in on top with 110 inches in 6 days (279 cm!).

Nice turns on Mt Seymour

Unfortunately these storms often came just before (or on) weekends, making for rather harsh skiing conditions. Despite this Pete and I skied Whistler in 50 km/h winds. With another friend I got stuck on a chair at Seymour on a cold and windy night for half an hour. Unfortunately, heavy snowfall combined with high winds also make for tricky avalanche conditions, so we haven’t been out in the backcountry quite as often as we would have liked. But early in March we got some nice runs at Hemlock Resort (and found 50-60 cm fresh pow behind it) and later in March did a moon-light tour at Hollyburn and hit some sweet snow in the whiteout conditions at First Pump (Mt Seymour).

Now forecasts are for warmer weather by this Friday, maybe spring is starting after all?

From BC River Forecast Centre

From Canadian Avalanche Association

Snowy Owls - March 10

Snowy owls migrate south from their arctic habitat in average only every four years (this is called an ‘irruptive migration’). They do this when the lemming population, their main food source, crashes. This year many owls came south, and some of them landed at Boundary Bay near Vancouver. Hope they found enough food to fill their tummies.

Here are some pictures from my visit with the owls.