[MCR] Crowfoot mountain area-Rockies-New natural avalanche

Subject: [MCR] Crowfoot mountain area-Rockies-New natural avalanche
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 21:33:31 -0800
Hi All,

Today we toured up the regular Northwest flank of Crowfoot mountain. We enjoyed decent ankle deep powder under scattered skies and very little winds. The snow pack in this area is as reported previously, it felt very supportive in the deeper areas and we did not see signs of instability. We measured upwards of 200cm of snow on the small glacier below Crowfoot mountain.

Of note was a fresh looking size 3 slab avalanche at 2800m off the North face of Vultur Peak. This peak is located 1.7 km Northeast of Mount Olive and can be seen from the canyon when approaching the Bow hut (see photo). This is an extremely steep unsupported start zone however it appear that the bed surface was last summer snow/ice surface. The fracture line looked to be many meters deep. The debris did not seem to have reach the access route to the Bow hut.

According to some of folks we saw skiing out from Bow hut (and previous posts), there were ongoing strong Southerly winds transporting snow in this areas last night which may have been the trigger. This may be an isolated event or terrain dependent but it shows that there is still potential for full depth avalanches with significant loading.

Keep your heads up!

David Lussier
ACMG-IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.summitmountainguides.com

Attachment: VulturNorth.jpg
Description: JPEG image

_______________________________________________
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.