Winter Sking

Feb. 15, 2010 -- It is winter sking time, as indicated by all the inquiries I am receiving about the condition of the lakes. Instead of answering the same questions over and over again, I decided to try my hand at 'blogging'. Please be patient with me, I still live in the past, so this is all new to me! I hope my blog site will progress, eventually, into something that might interest readers.

Living at Bowron Lake gives me a unique and up-front opportunity to know the conditions, and having lived here for the past 20 years, affords me a good understanding of how things work in the area. Right now everyone is interested in the ice conditions. Lets start with a quick summary of the winter so far.

Dec. 3rd saw Bowron Lake freeze up with a good solid freeze. It was weeks before we had any amount of snow so the ice stayed good and clear. Sometimes a heavy snowfall after freeze up results in layers of slush and rotten ice, but that didn't happen this year. Small bits of snow fell throughout Dec. until we had a nice layer of over 40 cm by the end of Dec. Then it started to melt... by the 11th of Jan we had bare ground and watery ice (layer of water on top of the lake ice). Things spruced up again and by the 4th of Feb we had a new level of 14cm of snow, then winter slowly warmed up again. Yesterday, Feb 14th, saw 3 to 4 inches of water on top of a beautifully solid base ice. It rained all last night! This morning, Feb. 15th, after reaching a jarring -2.5 last night, the lake made an attempt to freeze up again. During our walk on the lake we kept crunching through the thin top layer of ice into the 3 inches of water underneath. Definately insulated gumboot and ice cleat weather!

The past week night time temps have been reaching -3 or -4, and daytime temps are +6 and +7. Looking out the window, the ice is grey and wet again and it is sunny and warm. If you are planning a trip out on the lake chain, anytime soon, I would advise that you bring every kind of transportation mode possible. Skis, snowshoes, ice cleats, insulated rubber boots. You can always leave gear behind in the car after accessing the conditions when you arrive. From the conditions on Bowron Lake (which is the lake I see out my window) I can assume that the ice on the other lakes will probably be good and solid, but wet! Some parts of the portages will probably be bare of snow and the rivers will most probably be open. I don't expect that anyone could attempt the full circuit at this time, so plan on spending a few days on one side or the other and then coming back the way you came.

For interests sake I would like to direct you to my website at http://www.bowronlake.com/ where I have two winter trip reports from a couple of years ago (on my winter page). It is interesting because the trips were made within weeks of each other and one group was able to make the full circuit while the other group had to turn back. The Bowron Lake circuit is always unpredictable and you never know what conditions you will get from day to day. Last of all, I would love to hear from others who have traveled the chain during the winter, their experiences, suggestions, ideas. Any little bit will certainly help future winter travelers with their plans to keep safe and comfortable in the back country wilderness conditions. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I or anyone who posts a item here, do not assume any responsiblity for any occurances or bad luck encountered in the Bowron area from anyone using any information published here.