That XMAS Season

Seems I've been too busy to write these past few days - we've had a week or so with the kids here for XMAS, there's been skiing, hiking, eating and recovering from all the activity.

There's been regular new snow nearly every day and up in the hills there is a nice deep snowpack. We've slogged our way up through all the snow on several logging roads and spent a day skiing at Whitewater. We hiked the river trail and showed off the new bridge to our visitors. Then there was Christmas dinner......

December is nearly over which means it's almost time to head south for another road trip and an escape from snow and cold for awhile.

West Kootenay Snow Report

(The abbreviated version, at least....) Taking advantage of a clear blue sky day, we decided to pick a FSR and snowshoe up to see the views. This time it was the Whitewater Creek Trail. In summer, it's a steep 4x4 track that climbs 4 km to the trailhead that heads up Whitewater Creek. One week ago the area received almost 2 feet of light snow followed the day after by pouring rain. This reduced the snow to a very consolidated, crusty mass which made for pretty easy snowshoeing. We were too late in the day to be hiking in the sun, although we chased it uphill, only catching up to it near the end of the track. There is lots of snow up high, very firm underfoot, but with a layer of about 2 inches of light snow and hoar frost on the surface. I heard from a couple of skiiers that there was skiable snow once you got up to around 1900 meters. Anyhow, the blue skies allowed great views of the peaks in the area. One more road down, lots more to go.....

So What Season is It?

Yesterday (Sunday), it was snowing beautifully, nearly 2 feet of the fresh, fluffy stuff. We went for a long snowshoe through the woods. I was starting to think about skiing. I found myself starting to reconcile myself to the idea that it was Winter in the mountains.

Fast forward to last night and today. Pouring rain. The fluffy snow is mush, avalanche hazard is high to extreme everywhere and the temperature is climbing. Last time I checked, it was around +4C. I hear what we're getting is something called a "Pineapple Express". Tomorrow it's supposed to be warmer. If it wasn't December on the calendar, I'd be thinking Spring had arrived.

I'm sure some of this rain will be snow higher up. In fact, the webcams of Roger's Pass show LOTS of snow and there were plenty of travel advisories on BC highways today. So I guess I won't put the skis away just yet. The lawn chairs can stay stacked up in the snow (er...mush). Hopefully this seasonal confusion will sort itself out shortly.