[MCR] Avalanche on Observation Peak, Banff NP

Recent avalanche activity above Bow Summit, on the Observation Peak side of
highway 93N, at 2500m. This fresh avalanche from the last 24 hours released
to the ground. The crown was a constant 70cm in thickness, over 200m in
width, and the debris ran nearly 400m. It was an isolated event in the
area, and it most likely released during the extreme wind event that blew
through the area yesterday.

Larger slides are possible with enough loading, and this can happen quite
rapidly with the stronger winds that have been tormenting the Rockies the
last while. Be aware of what terrain lies above you, and stick to
wind-sheltered slopes while enjoying the early season skiing.

Chris Gooliaff
ACMG AAG/ASG
Visitor Safety Technician
Banff, Yoho, Kootenay National Parks
Parks Canada










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[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Dome Glacier - Rogers Pass Dec.2/2011

Just to add a little to Rudi’s excellent summary.

 

I noticed a significant and hard raincrust a few hundred meters above Asulkan Brook while descending from the Dome Glacier today (lucked out and managed to hit a break in the fog in the late afternoon). There is currently about 30cms of low density snow overlying this crust which lacks any slab properties at this point, but still possible to trigger loose snow sloughs on the steeper slopes near the bottom of the descent.

 

I just wanted to put this in people’s minds for when it receives more load and or develops a significant slab – it is the kind of thing that might catch you unawares as it doesn’t exist much higher and when descending the Dome those last pitches to the valley are quite steep.

 

As Rudi mentioned the skiing is quite good with an additional 10-15cms of low density snow from last night’s system.

 

Have a great weekend,

Cheers,

 

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] Rogers Pass

Posted on behalf of Ruedi Beglinger.

 

Over the past few days I have been guiding at the Rogers Pass area. The skiing conditions have been absolutely incredible. Yesterday we skied Little Sifton, climbed up via Grizzly Shoulder and skied down via the upper and lower Grizzly Bowl. In the higher alpine I noticed a weakness down 35cm which gave me some concerns regarding stability of larger slopes, mostly near exposed ridges.
Today we skied towards Sapphire Col. Again skiing was absolutely five star, deep and very light powder with ski penetration of 25cm. As soon as we reached the alpine, I again observed this distinct weakness down 35cm. At elevation 2360m, aspect N, sheltered slope with 30 degr. incline I made a test snow profile and stability tests. This profile and tests confirmed my concerns of the present snowpack at Rogers Pass. Down 37cm easy compression tests with sudden planer results (CTE4 SP), down 55cm lower moderate shear also with sudden planer results (CTM13 SP), down 91cm moderate shear results with sudden planer shear characteristics on decomposed surface hoar and down 135cm moderate to hard shear results with sudden planer shear characteristics on decomposing surface hoar. At 1600 m elevation we reached a steep exposed slope, probing showed the distinct weakness down 100cm. I decided that this slope is not stable enough to climb up or ski down. It was time to pull the skins off and ski down without reaching the actual goal of the day.
The snowpack I have found at Rogers Pass is classic for this time of the year. Just because the snowpack in the alpine is anywhere from 3 to 4 metres, it is still a young snowpack which had little time to consolidate into a strong snowpack or to bond the many interfaces.
Of course we can go skiing, enjoy the amazing powder and deep snowpack, but caution and respect towards the rather young snowpack is very important.

Stay safe
Ruedi Beglinger
A.C.M.G. Mountain Guide

Selkirk Mountain Experience
www.selkirkexperience.com
info@selkirkexperience.com

[MCR] Whitewater backcountry - Nelson, BC

Some obs from the past couple days:

 

13cm of new snow that fell Tues. night / Wed. morning is still providing excellent skiing in wind sheltered areas at treeline and below.  A reverse wind loading pattern had compressed the snow on N-NW aspects and reduced cornices somewhat, but yesterday winds were back to a SW flow affecting alpine elevations. 

 

I saw a fair bit of terrain the last couple days and observed some sluffing on steeps from the new snow and a few small wet surface sluffs from sun effect on steep south aspects but no slabs were visible.

 

The warm temps of last week have really settled out the snowpack with settlement cracks on all the trees.  This, combined with cooler present temps (-7C yesterday in the parking lot at 10am) had stiffened things up quite a bit.  I had variable clean shears on the new windslab (10-20cm) with moderate to hard results but it generally seemed to be bonding well.  I would be leery of cross loaded slopes though and the better skiing is off of the windslab anyway.

 

Snow depths were averaging 170-190cm above 1900m although shallow areas still exist (especially where wind effected).

 

Surface hoar was growing with crystals 3-7mm observed at treeline ridgetops.

 

The resort will open tomorrow with excellent skiing to be had.

 

 

More photos at www.facebook.com/mountainsense

 

Cheers,

Shaun King  ACMG / UIAGM Mountain Guide

Mountain Sense Guiding & Instruction

www.mountainsense.ca  +1-250-505-5139

 

 

[MCR] Cariboos-Blue River

Cariboos - Blue River

Out from five days in the Cariboos west of the village of Blue River

Weather

Big rain event during the day on November 27th, wind and light snow on the 28th followed by 35 cm of new snow on the 29th and a clear blue sky day on the 30th.

Air temp Dec 1st am was -15.0 c.

Alpine (lmtd obs)

Tree Line Snowpack - Test Profile 1700 m 

-As of Dec 1st there is 185 cm of snow at  1220m and 250cm at 1700m NE aspect.

-35 cm of new snow is now overlying theNov 27th rain crust, here it was 2 cm thick and un-supportive, the new snow was not reactive to tests or ski cutting yet near the crust interface.

-Below the rain crust the upper 150cm of the snowpack appeared to be very well settled with no shears found at this site.

-I could not find buried SH in the upper or mid-pack at this location.

Below Treeline

Here conditions are a much different story!

-The Nov 27th rain crust is industrial below tree line and now there is 15-20 cm of low density new snow and a thick layer of surface hoar ( up to 20mm) sitting on top. 

-At this point the new snow/surface hoar is un-reactive to ski cutting in steep or un-supported features. Except for the classic SH tinkle-shus when you ski it.

-Snowpack depths are certainly above threshold in all below tree line avalanche features such as avalanche run outs, fans, cut blocks, creek gullies and road cuts.

Avalanches

-Several wet loose avalanches ran during the rain event in steep features including the lower portion of avalanche run outs and fans.

-As the weather cleared on the 30th I observed a few isolated wet loose and very soft slab storm snow releases in steep terrain with direct solar heating at various elev. running mid-path.

-I did not observe any large or deep slab avalanches at this location.

Outlook

Cornices are getting large, tender and ripe in the alpine and overall I would be leaning to stay out of large features and sticking to lower angle terrain in the alpine until the latest precip inputs, wind events etc.. have found their happy place.

The biggest concern I have right now is below tree line where the rain crust, new snow/surface hoar combo is just waiting for additional loading such as new snow or a wind event. 

Skiing healed up with deep dust on crust, coverage is excellent for this time of year and the tree line snowpack here is looking good so far!

Dana Foster

Ski Guide

CAA Professional Member

Snowy Mountain Alpine Tours

Blue River - Clearwater BC

P 250 674 2988

www.snowymountain.ca

[MCR] Rogers Pass avalanche

A skier triggered size 3+ avalanche occurred late this afternoon on Grizzly Gully, off the summit of Grizzly Peak.  The first skier of five did a ski cut in the start zone with no result.  The second skier in made another ski cut, again with no result.  Upon doing a kick turn in a shallow area however, the slope in the start zone failed down 1.5-2 meters, producing a large avalanche that ran to 1700 meters (the pinch-point of the Grizzly path).  It ran 800 vertical meters, over about a kilometre.  The snow lower in the path was primarily storm snow, down about 50cm.   One skier was involved, sustaining serious injuries, and a second lost some equipment.

Although conditions seem to have stabilized in Rogers Pass, with few new natural avalanches running over the past few days, some instabilities still linger near the base of the snowpack.  It is unknown whether this was related to a buried surface hoar layer from earlier in the year, or whether it was wind loading of the large amount of storm snow from last week.

Sylvia Forest

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Rogers Pass

Good skiing again on a couple of laps in Macdonald West Shoulder/NRC Gully today. I've also had a report of good skiing on Dome Glacier and another group of friends went to Little Sifton although I'm not sure if they made it over today.

There was a widespread cycle of very large avalanches (to size 4.5) during the last storm cycle but I talked to one of the avalanche forecasters at the end of the day and he hadn't seen anything new in highway corridor. The surface hoar that was an issue awhile back also seems to be dormant for the time being at least in the areas I've been skiing recently - mostly trees.

That said, it sounded as if there was an incident in the Connaught valley, perhaps in the Grizzly Mtn/upper Grizzly Bowl area. This would go with the observations we made in that open areas at treeline and above have had recent wind effect and wind slabs are a probability up there.

As is usually the case, if you go where the snow is soft with quality skiing and avoid areas where the wind has got at it making the skiing crap you may well also avoid the major avalanche problems right now.

Mark Klassen
IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
www.alpinism.com/SORCERER-LODGE
_______________________________________________
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.
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