After postponing this trip for months, finally, my friend is taking the day off on Saturday and I'm trying to get my work done before the weekend so that we can finally do Golden Ears Trip.

I was wondering if anyone knew the current weather conditions up at the summit.

Do we need to bring crampons to be able to reach the summit? Is the emergency shelter not under snow? Do we need snowshoes or can we just walk through it all?

We are planning to spend the night at the peak.

This trip is planned on sat-sun.

If anyone has any previous experience/information, getting a heads up for this trip
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

The avalanche Hazard in the Coast Mountains will increase through the day and tomorrow. If the weather forecast holds true I expect the Avalanche Hazard at Treeline and above to be:

Today: Considerable increasing High
Tomorrow High increasing Extreme:


A warm Pacific air mass has stalled over the south west coast. Environment Canada has issued several rainfall warnings for the lowlands and snowfall warnings for the Whistler area and mountain passes. Howe Sound and Fraser Valley should see up to 200mm of precipitation by the end of Monday.

Ridgetop winds are currently 50km/h gusting to 80 and supposed to increase to 80 gusting to 110km this evening. Freezing levels are forecast to climb from valley bottom to 1700m by the end of tomorrow.

As the temperature rises, heavier more moist snow will be laid down on top of 100-150cm of colder lighter snow creating an instability. This will be accelerated by the winds. Some other localized instabilities that could fail under load are the Oct and Nov raincrusts as well as some surface hoar and near surface facetting that formed over the last few days of clear cold weather.

Avalanches are probable during the course of this storm. Although there is not enough snow Below Treeline (in most areas) to start an avalanche, slides from above could run down existing paths well below treeline.

Public avalanche forecasts for can be found at:

Canadian Avalanche Center: http://avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/regions (have not started yet this season)

Whistlerblackcomb.com: http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/wea...sory/index.htm

In Washington state Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: http://www.nwac.us/

Current precipitation amounts can be seen at: http://www.bchydro.com/about/our_sys..._interior.html


Cheers,
Conny Amelunxen
ACMG MG

I hope you have a decent tent if you're planning on camping at the summit.

This from the Golden Ears website:

As of November 16, 2009:

Please note: Golden Ears park is closed past Km 7 on the Golden Ears parkway until further notice due to a debris slide and potential flooding. Gold Creek Campground, Gold Creek parking lot and West Canyon parking lot will not be accessible during this closure. Updates will be posted here when available, please check back to the website for information on this park closure.

Looks like a long walk just to get to the trailhead, Obakasan. Even during best conditions, it would be good idea to have snowshoes tacked to your backs going up there. When everything stabilizes, expect walking and then snowshoeing the higher up you go above the tree level.

K

thanks a lot Dru and to all that replied. I can't believe that the conditions are so bad that they closed the gates. My friend already booked off his time, is there anywhere near Vancouver (w/in 1hr) that we can do an overnight at? Where the conditions aren't as bad?

Just looking for easy/moderate 2 day hike.

You could try Laughington/Mercer and Airplane Creek south of Chilliwack with access via Chilliwack Valley Road. Lot less people there, not as much risk of avalanche and if you make it to 1200 to 1800 meter elevation there should be lots of snow. Snowshoes for higher elevation a very good idea...

K

Isn't there really only one tiny spot where you could camp at the very top?

There is one flattened plateau near the top, but it's really slanted if I remember correctly.

With snow it's a little less of a problem, you can shovel off your own flat plateau to some extent. Enough for a tent anyway.

Ah, the pineapple express is back!