I have been tree skiing and tip toeing around the northern part of the
range this week, as we got 30-40cms of cold smoke from Sunday nights
cold front, then another 15-20cms yesterday, followed by 5-10cms and a
spike of freezing levels to around 1800m today, with freezing levels
already dropping now and continued snowfall.
Today we were able
to trigger a size 3 at 2300m on north facing terrain from a ridge,
around 200m wide, 30-70cm deep. It was getting actively loaded by out
moderate SW winds, and part of the slide was a repeater from 2 weeks
ago. Failure plane was the Feb 9 SH, but parts seemed to step down to
the late January SH's. It pulled back farther on the ridge then I have
ever seen, but did not put us at risk.
Following that, we were
skiing on 20 degree N to NW facing terrain at a similar elevation, and
I was keeping the group far away from the run out of a short but steep
north facing slope. At a safe regroup in the trees, we scared a white
rabbit and it proceeded to cross the steep slope I was concerned
about. As it got into the middle of the slope, it triggered a size 2,
100m wide, ~50-60cm deep on the Feb 9th SH, with a few spots stepping
down to the late Jan SH sandwich. No sign of the bunny.
Obviously
things are ripe, but the propagation around tree wells and micro ridges
of these two slides is what really spooked me out. Spicy times my
friends, be safe!
Evan Stevens
Mountain Guide
Valhalla Mountain Touring
www.vmt.ca
evanstevens@xxxxxxxxx
evanstevens.blogspot.com
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_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in
continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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