At 2240 meters the temperature was -11, winds were 5-20 KPH from the W. At 1650 meters the temperature was -8.5, no new snow overnight. In the valley it is -2. Observations taken at 06:00 Hrs.
For the forecast we can expect more unsettled weather until the warm front reaches the coast. It is now thought this warm front will stall over our area until Thursday giving us decent amounts of precipitation until Saturday. A cooler upper level trough should be here by Saturday. The models are indicating that our zone will receive the brunt of the precipitation compared to our neighbours to the south.
Guesstimates: 10-15 cm by Tuesday Afternoon, 8-10 cm by Wednesday Aft, 20-25 by Thursday Aft, 15-18 by Friday Afternoon. Freezing levels will fluctuate from 800-1800 meters cresting on Wednesday night, than dropping back to 800 meters by Saturday..
For thew local updated avalanche advisory: Whistler Mountain Snow Safety
In Defence of Taking Risk: By Steve Casimiro
Siberian Roads clogged by too much snow: If only we had this problem
Black Week for Haute Alpes: France
Jeremy Jones Survives Massive Avalanche: Worthy Avalanche Footage
Here is an account of the avalanche that occurred on the Poop Chutes last Monday from Ryan and PO:
We started our day off by meeting up with 2 other friends and headed to showcase t-bar Around 10am. We soon realised that we would be delayed by grooming so we waited till it got clearance around 12 pm and then started our route towards the poop chutes followed by a lot of other eager hikers, our small group all had knowledge of avalanche risk and conditions and we were all equipped with avalanche gear unlike a fair amount of boot packers most likely headed to d.o.a. and corona , we felt safe in knowing that we all had our fair share of days in the back country but in reality none of us had been out in these types of conditions, our basic knowledge was fast dismissed by our lack of experience , in other words you can read a 100 books on carpentry, that does not mean you have the skills to build a house ! By the time we got to the top of Stairmaster we had passed a couple red flags that we naively found reasons to ignore like the amount of snow in the past days that we brushed off with the excuse that it had been more than 24 hours since the last snow fall we also passed a number of visible slides ,second red flag . The third red flag was that the slope we were about to step on to was exposed in the sun all day creating a weak layer on already dangerous terrain, we did not ignore this one and made the decision to ride the trees skiers right of the last chute with the idea that the trees would anchor the snow but it meant a traverse across the last chute, we passed a pretty big bomb hole from patrol avalanche control only about 100 feet before the last chute and this made us drop our guards but also showed our lack of experience. We had no idea when it was dropped !! We kept a fair distance between us but by the time my turn was up to cross I found myself riding dead center in to a 15 meter wide slab on its way down a steep pitch , I pointed downhill with the hopes of picking up enough speed to ride to the side of this slab but with no luck , I was on it for the long ride down, with snow pounding down my mouth and my whole body covered with snow I could only pray that no trees or rocks stood in the way of my descent ,convinced I was taking my last breath I suddenly came to a stop with only my head and shoulders popping out of the snow I quickly realised I had survived a 300 meter slide .I dug myself out to communicate with the rest of my group searching for me a couple hundred meters up, a quick call from my cell phone put me at ease when told they were all ok!! Blackcomb patrol arrived only minutes later after receiving calls from my friend and other witnesses to make sure no one else was caught by this slide , fortunately no one was ! we then all rode off without a scratch and with only one message, if you don’t know! DON'T go !!!! I’m still in disbelief about what happened but very aware of WHY and how lucky I am to write about it and hopefully my story will help others to realise how fast it can go WRONG !
From last week, thanks to Jerry for this note and pictures from the Duffy:
Friends are sharing their skier accidental involvement from this Saturday on the Duffy Lake.
They made it up Cerise Creek staying at the Cabin before the road was closed.
After spending they day skiing conservatively, they were finishing their day off on Vantage Ridge skiers right of the Bowl in the trees.
One of them on a snowboard triggered a Sz 2 near the bottom of that upper crown line of the photo below.
He was raked through the trees and buried up to his neck in a mostly vertical position at the very bottom of the open lower bowl, the next attached photo.
Thanks to this experienced group to share footage of their lucky ordeal.
After multiple laps in similar terrain this was a surprise, as it triggered well above him.
Jerry
Hello,
These are some pictures of Brohm Ridge taken last Sunday from a plane by
Nico Potiron.
I though you might like them.
Thanks for the blog.
JD Disney
Received this from one of the people who witnessed the avalanche into Body Bag Bowl from last Monday. I personally saw a lot of people skiing or boarding into this area with no gear at all. The back country has to be respected or you may be buried and killed. Get the training and get the gear.
Last note; Some meteorologist are suggesting we name our winter storms, the one approaching will be coming from Hawaii. One has named it Poseidon, a great name considering what is approaching us.
