Did a short flight over the Tantalus and into the Clowhom
valley this afternoon.
As reported by others recently, conditions still appear
quite wintry, especially above 1200m. Trees on south aspects (down to 1500m)
still covered in snow at 3 PM. The snow looked to have some wind effect where
exposed, but suspect there is some nice snowsport activity to be had in more
sheltered terrain. Of particular note was the isolated and sporadic nature of
recent avalanche occurrences – I kind of expected to see more natural
results. This is likely a result of the inconsistent precip amounts from area
to area in the Easter weekend storm. (from 30mm to 80mm depending on where you
were measuring in the Sea to Sky area)
A few slides (Size 2-3) looked to be 24-48 hours old, but
many were from before Easter. The avalanches that did run more recently
appeared to be running far due to avalanche tracks well filled in. There were
no deep slabs observed, but suspect the early season deep weakness could still
produce large results with either a large trigger in the right spot, or by
stepping down from a smaller avalanche.
I am really wondering what will happen when we get the first
real blast of summer heat!
Brian Gould
Avalanche near Clowhom Lake
Alpha
Serratus
Tantalus
Brian Gould
bgould@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx