We found slightly touchier conditions a bit further down the road than Ken’s
MCR report from the Vermillion peak area. We toured up the “Floe lake Burn”
which is another 15KM south down highway 93 S in Kootenay park. The runs in
this area are mainly steep burned forest, avalanche paths and face North East
with elevation between 1300-2200m.
With the forecasted warming temps and 10-15 cm’s new snow, we chose to stick to
an area we knew had previously avalanched on the late Jan/early Feb interface
of Facets and Surface Hoar. Although this seemed like a good plan, the
freezing level rose higher than expected to around 1500-1600m and with this we
saw an increase in the reactivity of this deeper instability.
While skiing just outside of an area that had previously avalanched quite large
(you could feel the debris under your skis) we were able to skier trigger a
size 1.5 that quickly gained mass and travel down into the fog likely
travelling 400+m and becoming a larger size 2 avalanche. While attempting to
stick to mellow and less exposed terrain we still managed to remotely trigger a
lower angle (around 30 degree) glade/chute from 60m way. This larger size 2
avalanche failed on the late Jan Facets buried down 50-80 cm’s. Both of these
avalanches accrued around 1500-1600m where the warming tempurature made both
the recent new snow and older snow a much more dense and cohesive slab.
With the forecasted continued snowfall tomorrow and a still rising temperature,
I would suspect that there will be a natural avalanche cycle starting soon. I
think for the next few days the susceptibility to triggering either the recent
30-40 cm’s of new snow, but also the deeper weak layers which are closer to 1m
deep now will be a concern. During this next little while it will be a good
time to stick to mellow, well supported terrain with little over head hazard.
Have fun, Craig
Craig McGee
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
(403) 497-4211
_______________________________________________
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nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
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Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
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