Eagle Valley / Sicamous Conditions 2019-2020

[Joholio]

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.

View attachment 220448

View attachment 220449

View attachment 220450

was a good day, but you better do a couple of your snow dances soon.

 

[ferniesnow]

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191127/891115840f3199bbf623b0194d2f3ca7.jpg//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191127/e6da52dcbeb377dc9660106b45f3a645.jpg was a good day, but you better do a couple of your snow dances soon.

Thanks for the day Joel. First rides are always a struggle with the body and making sure bags, gear, etc., work.

 

[snowcannon]

Silly question: it seems to me Queest gets mentioned the least around here. Is there a reason for it? Less snow? According to sled sicamous' description its terrain is in between blue/owlhead and eagle pass. Or is the cabin not nice enough

 

[tex78]

Silly question: it seems to me Queest gets mentioned the least around here. Is there a reason for it? Less snow? According to sled sicamous' description its terrain is in between blue/owlhead and eagle pass. Or is the cabin not nice enough

Shush there now




Where is that??? No idea

 

[snowcannon]

Shush there now




Where is that??? No idea

Thank you. Everything I needed to know...

 

[Joholio]

Thank you. Everything I needed to know...

Was up on Queest today, might be a touch more snow there, but its hard and crusty and lots of rocks and trees showing. You can find decent pockets in the trees however. Queest cabin has the best stove of all the managed areas by a long shot!

 

[Shermanator]

Silly question: it seems to me Queest gets mentioned the least around here. Is there a reason for it? Less snow? According to sled sicamous' description its terrain is in between blue/owlhead and eagle pass. Or is the cabin not nice enough

Sucks big time, best stick to Fly Hills, wayyyyy3better!

 

[revbyu]

Headed up owls today , Rode plowed to 12k , I assume there going to be hauling logs out ! Drove past the intersection to owls , always seems a little sketchy at this time of year, so headed up the trail ad then headed across to the back way in. There are alot of creeks that were challenging to get across! We headed toward ecological, once we got higher in the alpine, snow got better and once we crossed the saddle the snow became more powdery! Probed 90cm , meadows were untouched for abit ! Make a few tracks and headed back to cabin to find more open creeks ! Stopped at cabin for abit and then headed done main trail ! Still alot of trees laying across trail ! All in all was decent day ! Need SNOW !

 

[AxysAssault]

Hope it does snow more! We got a cabin booked between Xmas and new year's for the maiden voyage on snowbikes.

Thanks for the updates.

 

[team dirt]

Hope it does snow more! We got a cabin booked between Xmas and new year's for the maiden voyage on snowbikes.

Thanks for the updates.

In 18 years of riding the Shuswap there has only been 1 year where Xmas was iffy. That was 05/06. All the rest have been killer. Even that year was good just lower access was the issue. Rained the whole time in the valley but big snow up top. It seems to me the last 4 years have been exceptionally chilly for the Xmas break though. Be patient. It only takes one good storm cycle and it’s full on.

 

[revbyu]

Went to Blue to , Rode very icy at 3/4 Km mark , unfortunately spun out pulling a 2 place . Luckily had set of chains and once installed motored up ! Unloaded at 8k , rode decent until about 13k and then starts getting whooped out ! Got to cabin then headed west over hill to play in meadows to the SW , as we venture farther south tracks got less and managed to find few areas of untracked snow ! Played for few hrs had lunch and ventured back to cabin ! Unsure where to go , behind cabin snow looks pretty skimpy , ventured back over bunny hill and ventured straight east down into trees and got into lower meadows, eventually made our way back and out ! Was blue bird day !

 

[DV-ENT]

Looks like a nice couple of days Brian, good to see Ed got the sled up and running again.

 

[ferniesnow]

Someone has to do it..........why not me? I'm hitting the conditions reports with a snow dance in the popular areas of BC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XXfsptvxJ_Q&feature=emb_logo

 

[Shermanator]

Someone has to do it..........why not me? I'm hitting the conditions reports with a snow dance in the popular areas of BC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XXfsptvxJ_Q&feature=emb_logo

Ahhhhhhh, I have no words.........

 

[snowcannon]

Looks like Owlhead got even less fresh snow than here in SA

 

[Spudnik]

Well i am beginning to wonder if the camera is broke on Owls Head. The snow level has not changed in 3 weeks. Still less than 2 feet. What are the rest of the areas like . Everything still looks pretty skinny from what i can see and heard. We usually have a big trip planned for this 4-5 days this week end. We are considering putting it off. Whats everyones honest opinion. Owls looks like no go. Blue Lake doesnt look great from the pics i have seen. I heard some people have been into Eagles. I cant see that being real good , unless they have more snow on that side. The Yamicam on Boulder doesn't look great. I have seen some pics on Queest that are marginal.
Sale .... Maybe
Quartz doesnt look like it is ready yet. Lots of traffic but not much snow there either. I think i am trying to talk myself out of going.... unless someone can convince me different. We have guys coming from Saskatoon , Ft Mac . a long ways to go for marginal conditions.

 

[Bnorth]

I'd wait. I live here and I'm not riding as much as I could be due to conditions.

 

[Spudnik]

Thanks man , much appreciated. I think we are leaning that way

 

[LUCKY 7]

even Ferniesnow has only gone out once. That tells you something

 

[ferniesnow]

I'd wait. I live here and I'm not riding as much as I could be due to conditions.

I'd second this. Some have ridden 5 days but...............I would think it would be like geeze was that a rock I just nicked or a stump? It sure isn't epic and the trails are whooped.