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This is second and third hand info but worth
passing on.
There have been a number of very large slides in
the south coast mountains. Avalanches up to size 4 with 3 metre crowns are being
reported failing on the December 5th interface. These occurred last weekend in
the Whistler area both within the ski area boundary where heavy skier compaction
occurred for the whole winter, as well as outside the boundary in areas with
less skier use. This cycle was triggered by rapid warming (the first significant
warmup of the spring) where 30 degree temps were observed at valley bottom.
This may be an indication of what is happening/has
happened in other areas or what may happen elsewhere during significant
warming events, especially if it's the first major warmup in a your
area.
You will recall that the Dec 5th layer was
widespread so just because you are far from the south coast region is no reason
to believe you are immune to this kind of event.
Photos are circulating (they are impressive) but
they came to me via a third party so I do not feel I can attach them. Apparently
the photos have been posted on YouTube or Facebook or MySpace? but I don't
frequent those sites so don't know where or how to find them. Perhaps someone
who is more social network savvy than me can find them and let people know where
to look.
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