Rocky Mountains - Lake Louise
Backcountry - Feb.22-08
I have been working on a Level 2 CAA course this week and we
spent the day at Lake Louise with the local
Avalanche control team – part of the day was spent in Wolverine Bowl –
the next bowl North of Purple Bowl. While we were doing profiles the Avalanche
crew were going to place some explosives in a North facing area known as
the Tylenols – while walking on the ridge on their way to the desired
shot placement – they felt a whumph – and remotely triggered (means
the avalanche started 75 meters from where they were standing safely on the
ridge) a size 2.5 slab avalanche with a 150cm. crown.
Well they still had their shots so they moved farther along
the ridgecrest when they felt a second whumph – and triggered a second
size 2.5 (left portion in attached photo) the next two times they managed to
actually throw their explosives which produced another 2.5 (the right protion
that connects to the remotely triggered and a size 3.0 with a crown (the
depth of snow that released) of 300 cms.
Obviously things are still pretty touchy out there in the
Rockies and I don’t see this one going away anytime soon – remote triggering
means that you really have to be aware of what is over your head if you
choose to travel in the mountains. All this has also been complicated by the sun
affect on south through west slopes that has triggered several other avalanches
in the area over the last week.
Scott Davis
Mountain Guide
