As the days grow longer and the sun shines high over the mountains, I move around our mountain playground differently than during the bulk of the winter season. I truly believe that planning a spring ski tour is an art that must be mastered. While the extra daylight hours are always welcomed, they affect the snowpack dramatically, changing the ski quality and avalanche stability. Whether by playing the aspect or monitoring changing ski conditions, there are ways to optimize your time outdoors in springtime. Before we get deeper into the subject, I recommend checking out this post to gain insight into the spring backcountry skiing and splitboarding fundamentals.
Related: Spring Ski Touring Basics: Weather, Corn Skiing and Avalanches
Live For The Alpine Starts
The dreaded alpine start involves waking up around 3-5 AM to get an early start on your day. It’s brutal but necessary, making it essential to planning a spring ski tour. Snow conditions start to deteriorate drastically with solar input around 10-11 AM, depending on the weather conditions. For instance, start your tour early in the morning if your route involves crossing underneath a large, solar slope. Potentially, you may want to bag a peak and ski down an eastern aspect just as the freeze-thaw crust gives way to corn skiing. In that case, grab your headlamp and head out before sunrise. If you arrive too late in the day, the avalanche conditions or sloppy ski quality may turn you away from your objective. It takes plenty of experience and humility to determine when to turn around. Remember: the mountains will always be there.
The alpine start is necessary when expecting a long approach to reach your day’s objective. A detailed route plan using conservative travel estimates goes a long way in calculating approach times.
Play The Aspect and Elevation
Strategically playing the aspect and elevation is one of the many ingredients to planning a spring ski tour. A little tidbit on astronomy, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. As the Earth circles the Sun, East-facing slopes see the morning sun, followed by south-facing slopes and west-facing slopes in the afternoon. Come late spring, even the mellower northerly slopes are affected by solar radiation. Steep, high-elevation northerly features (NE to NW) will likely harbour the best powder if the winds didn’t get to it before you did. Glaciers hold good snow even longer due to the underlying ice’s cooling effect at the surface.
When I think of spring ski touring, I think of high-elevation descents. Warm temperatures and strong solar input deteriorate conditions at or below treeline. It’s often best to travel through forested sections first thing in the morning before the supportive crust breaks down. Ski crampons help tremendously in holding an edge through icy conditions. You can also choose your objective based on the starting elevation. For instance, Bow Pass in the Canadian Rockies stands tall at 2088m, generally offers cooler temperatures and climbable peaks over 3000m, perfect for late spring trips. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains stands at 1330m, and has generally warmer weather with peaks ranging in the 2500-3000m. This is a huge difference when considering which objective to go after based on the time of the year.
Have a Plan A, B and C
Having backup objectives is crucial since spring conditions change quickly throughout the day. Determining when to push for your main objective and when to pivot only comes with experience (and common sense). Moreover, keep monitoring ski conditions. On a given day, you might be gliding on a supportive crust using ski crampons on the ascent, skiing high-elevation powder on a supercooled glacier and trenching through isothermal snow in the afternoon as you slog back to your vehicle. These changing conditions and the time/energy required to get through difficult sections are integral to planning a spring ski tour.
When the skies cloud over and you’re travelling in the alpine or on a glacier, whiteout navigation can be daunting. With no reference in sight except a smooth, white canvas, it’s near-impossible to tell what’s up from down, what’s right from left. We call it: “travelling in a ping-pong ball. With spring convection swirling around the mountains, you’ll unexpectedly get “whited out”. Ample training is a must! A good trick is to fasten a 5m length of accessory cord to the end of your pole and whip it across the terrain. As the cord falls in the snow, you’ll get a rough understanding of the features ahead. The whip, in tandem with probing, is especially handy when navigating gaping crevasse fields in poor visibility.
While a GPS track can be useful when navigating glaciers, take note of the track’s recorded date – a 10-year-old track might not be the most accurate nowadays and might even go over open crevasses. Glaciers recede, crevasses move, and the snowpack varies from season to season. When it all goes white, using a known feature (such as a peak, headwall or rocky moraine) as a handrail works wonders. Keep to your left or right and follow it to the next leg in your route plan. It provides a reference when there’s nothing out there but more white.
Hydrate Or Die-Drate
A common saying is: “Hydrate or die-drate”. As the sun beats down on the back of our necks, hydrating often is an important consideration when planning a spring ski tour. I make it a point to drink small amounts of water at every break. I typically carry a 500mL Nalgene bottle filled to the brim with tap water and a 1L thermos filled with my “special” potion (water, Gatorade powder, ginger, lemon and green tea). And, let’s be honest: that’s not much water. I recommend at least 2L for most folks. At home or in the lodge, I always chug water before and after the outing to minimize the weight carried in the field. Find what works best for you!
The same goes for nutrition. Frequently eating energy-dense foods will help maintain performance throughout the day. High-calorie snacks (granola bars, nuts, pepperoni sticks) work wonders. I simply can’t stomach a loaded sandwich while ski touring, especially in spring when the temperatures skyrocket. With experience, you’ll figure out what outdoor diet works for you and which doesn’t. Everybody’s different!
Get The Appropriate Technical Training
As spring rolls around, you’ll probably be spending way more time on glaciated terrain and amongst the high peaks. That’s where the technical training comes in handy. A crevasse rescue course provided by a certified ski or mountain guide is a great way to sharpen your rope rescue skills. Some courses also offer the opportunity to learn glacier navigation, in good or poor visibility. Avoiding crevasses or carefully assessing snow bridges is paramount when travelling in glaciated terrain.
Some guides also offer ski-mountaineering courses. It’s a golden opportunity to hone rappelling, anchor building, bootpacking, and couloir skiing. As with any other time of the season, an AST-1 and 2 course is the basic requirement for travelling in avalanche terrain.