Eagle Valley / Sicamous Conditions 2019-2020

[snowcannon]

According to the owlhead cam someone was up there.
Anybody been up to Blue Lake?
We need a cam there as well.

 

[DeNytroguy]

According to the owlhead cam someone was up there.
Anybody been up to Blue Lake?
We need a cam there as well.

No we don't need a cam, we need to go see for ourselves

 

[Bnorth]

According to the owlhead cam someone was up there.
Anybody been up to Blue Lake?
We need a cam there as well.

A few groups at Blue Lake yesterday, at least one came from the Owls side. Snow was deep and very wet and heavy. Mashed potatoes resulted in quite a few stucks even on the 174's lol

 

[snowcannon]

A few groups at Blue Lake yesterday, at least one came from the Owls side. Snow was deep and very wet and heavy. Mashed potatoes resulted in quite a few stucks even on the 174's lol

Deep as in...?

 

[Bnorth]

Deep as in...?

didn't probe it, lol didn't even take a single pic. The meadows behind the phone booth had about 3' judging by the trenches. The top foot was wet and from this latest storm cycle

 

[powder dreams]

We went up owls today. Couple days short on those first tracks but who ever was up on Saturday worked for it. 2-3' maybe a little more in some spots. Ran up over skinny. Seems like it rained to the top over towards the lake. Pretty good 2" crust that will probably be a issue down the road. Over all good day to go up for lunch, split some wood and clean up the cabin.

 

[ferniesnow]

didn't probe it, lol didn't even take a single pic. The meadows behind the phone booth had about 3' judging by the trenches. The top foot was wet and from this latest storm cycle

Love it!!!

 

[Bnorth]

We went up owls today. Couple days short on those first tracks but who ever was up on Saturday worked for it. 2-3' maybe a little more in some spots. Ran up over skinny. Seems like it rained to the top over towards the lake. Pretty good 2" crust that will probably be a issue down the road. Over all good day to go up for lunch, split some wood and clean up the cabin.

There's a layer further down in the pack too. Top 18" or so is wet and heavy over about 6" of drier snow and then a pretty hard crust about 1' from the bottom.

 

[revbyu]

Blue lake on Sunday , drove up 8 1/2 I to unload , played in meadows before cabin on the right , stopped in at cabin , started the fire and then headed over the bunny hill - well the 1st attempt didnt go so well , visibility was terrible and before I new it , I started headed up with no momentul and stuck I was , we finally got over and headed toward the meadows , vis was still terrible , we managed to make our way back , played a bit , few more stucks, snow was so wet and heavy , was getting later in day, headed back to cabin ! It kinda cleared at end of day as were headed out !

 

[TKrebs]

Couple of my buddies are gonna attempt Eagles today . I’ll let you know what they report back !

 

[Bnorth]

Couple if my buddies are gonna attempt Eagles today . I’ll let you know what they report back !

haha oh please do!

 

[DeNytroguy]

Couple of my buddies are gonna attempt Eagles today . I’ll let you know what they report back !

Likley be some carnage if they make it in. That place has lots of "obstacles"... for this time of year anyway.

 

[snowcannon]

Likley be some carnage if they make it in. That place has lots of "obstacles"... for this time of year anyway.

Shhsh. No discouragement please. I want to see pics of carnage... I mean sledding

 

[tex78]

Couple of my buddies are gonna attempt Eagles today . I’ll let you know what they report back !

Way way to early for eagles, not enough snow, too many big azz rocks and stumps

Fingers crossed they get out OK, cause sar call out would suck

 

[TKrebs]

Well they made it up ! Parked at KM14 . Said it was a nightmare to get up to the cabin , but made it with no damage, apparently followed up a couple old tracks . Had a pretty good day . I wish I could get the pictures and videos to load . Looked to be about a foot to a foot and a half of soft stuff to play in . They probed a couple places in, further back from the cabin with an average of 125cm. Figured it had rained up to the lower burn , and only probed roughly 80cm in there .

 

[Sask Sledder]

Well they made it up ! Parked at KM14 . Said it was a nightmare to get up to the cabin , but made it with no damage, apparently followed up a couple old tracks . Had a pretty good day . I wish I could get the pictures and videos to load . Looked to be about a foot to a foot and a half of soft stuff to play in . They probed a couple places in, further back from the cabin with an average of 125cm. Figured it had rained up to the lower burn , and only probed roughly 80cm in there .

Shoot, we had a great time the day after first groom last year with 125cm in the back.

 

[DV-ENT]

Yah I heard from a few guys that were up there today about a meter of snow and it was set up, we went up to Queest today and it was pretty set up as well but blue bird, definitely better a couple days ago at blue but the vis was bad and the snow was setting up there as well, the trails up are a little skinny and icy as well witch sucks the machines run warm for sure... should be a good base and be pretty decent with a few more days of snow... on the flip side the snowbike guys were loving it!

 

[maxwell]

Anyone going out Tommorow. Picked up the new machine today see if I can keep it in one piece

 

[tex78]

Anyone going out Tommorow. Picked up the new machine today see if I can keep it in one piece

Waiting for snow from tomorrow., going up Sunday

 

[ferniesnow]

First ride of the season was yesterday un to Blue Lake. The highlight of the day was talking to WildBill at the cabin over lunch. Mucho interesting fellow!

The trail is skinny as DV-ENT mentioned but smooth to about 14 km then with the deeper snow the whoops start. Just like the olden days of no grooming!! Around the cabin and the open areas on the way up, the snow has been well used. Further back in sight of Mabel Lake there was less traffic and the snow was generally deep enough to cover most hazards. Saying that, there are still the broken off stumps of the smaller trees (a-arm height) that one has to navigate around.

The snow pack will be interesting. As of yesterday, the snow on the ground is crystallized and covered with a 4-6" crust that is quite hard. We didn't probe but it appeared in 3' - 1m depth in most places. There was maybe 6" of pow on top of the thick crust. There was a good base and we were never down to the dirt even with a few stucks. As far as base is concerned, it was the best I have found for my first ride of the season in my 20 years of mountain riding.