Tracking snow and freezing level/snow level problem

[Okanagan]

We use tracking snow to locate big cats in hopes we can be close enough to one for it to hear our call.  Lions cover huge amounts of ground, so an efficient way to look for one is to drive as many miles of lion country as possible, looking for a track.  The problem in our coastal area is that useable tracking snow conditions are rare.  We have not had a single good tracking snow this winter.  Normal is for us to have too much snow or none:  too deep to drive in or no snow to show tracks.

Our terrain is virtually all steep:  deep V shaped canyons with a stream plunging down rocky chutes in the bottom and tops above timberline.  The only true large valley has the Trans-Canada highway plus towns and farms through it, and it rarely gets tracking snow anyway, just rain.  Part way up the side of the canyon is the freezing level, where snow sticks and stays.

Photo of snow line today taken from the Trans-Canada highway ten miles west of Hope.   Most logging has happened below the snow level in this pic, with a few old roads lacing through the second growth alder trees.



The snow level moves up and down all winter, with deep snow piling up above the freezing level and none below.  Logging roads switchback up the mountains.  Today, as normal, there was no snow in the bottom but I could drive no more than 50 feet once I hit snow.  It can go from no snow to several feet deep within 100 yards or less.  Nearby Mt. Baker ski area got over 100 feet of snow one winter, with ski lifts high above ground dragging ruts in the snow till they had to shut down operations.

Below is a plowed section of road across the valley from the photo above.  The road was plowed to a lake so I could drive 4 miles of it, but the snow is so deep no deer can survive without migrating to lower elevation, and so predators don't stay up there either in the winter.  The snow is at least 4 feet deep not far above the snow line. 




East over the mountains several hours drive from the coast conditions are better, but they have fewer lions!  The dry climate with little precipitation is consistently colder, so they get powder snow, easier to drive in and not as deep, and it often stays all winter.   They may get an inch of perfect tracking snow evenly distributed over a hundred miles of country laced with logging roads, mountains and valleys alike.  Photo below shows ideal tracking snow east of the mountains, with an inch of fresh snow on top of 4 inches of old powder.



This morning, I thought about calling the basin below on spec, with no tracking snow in the driveable parts to confirm that a lion was in the basin.  But I came home and took a nap.  

[FinsnFur]

But I came home and took a nap 

Cool pictures. I've always been intrigued with those snow covered mountain tops. Very interesting.

[Hawks Feather]

Sorry to hear this, but lack of snow sort of seems to be the rule this year.  I put snow in the snowblower around the time of the first snow flurries and drained it out the middle of last week - no snow to blow in Ohio this year.

Jerry