20 Jan 2012

I am still intrigued by how much man made snow sublimates. But enough, could do a whole slide show presentation on the subject. Blew ski touring off today for the quest of hoar frost. Donned the snowshoes and with some encouragement from my partner  off we went. Found some amazing hoar frost in the cliffs above the trails in Alpine Meadows.

hoar·frost  (hôrfrôst, -frst, hr-)
n.
Frozen dew that forms a white coating on a surface. Also called white frost.


Hoarfrost A deposit of interlocking ice crystals (hoar crystals) formed by direct sublimation on objects, usually those of small diameter freely exposed to the air, such as tree branches, plant stems and leaf edges, wires, poles, etc., which surface is sufficiently cooled, mostly by nocturnal radiation, to cause the direct sublimation of the water vapor contained in the ambient air.









At 2280 meters the temperature is -7 with south winds at 35-45 KPH. At 11550 meters the temperature is -6 with 95 % humidity and the barometer is dropping. There was 2 cm of new snow last night. In the valley it is -14.

For the updated Avalanche Advisory click here: Avalanche Advisory


OVER THE WEEKEND WE COULD RECEIVE 40-60 CENTIMETRES OF NEW SNOW DEPENDING ON HOW THE NEXT SERIES OF LOWS LINE UP . THIS WILL CERTAINLY CHANGE THE PRESENT AVALANCHE CONDITIONS.