November 20, 2015

    Image of Avalanche in Boundary Bowl from November 17Th.                            Adrian Bolden Pic

Top wind loaded storm snow and rain crust failed in boundary bowl.

Dug a hasty on similar terrain and the top 20cm of windload and slab popped while cutting the block. We chose not to ski the steeper line that had slid (not knowing it had slid until we viewed from the bottom) and shot the lower angle center of Boundary Bowl with no resulting excitement.

Will be interesting to see if this crust comes back to haunt us all season.

-Adrian Bolden

    Line up was to Zog's by 08:00 Hours Thursday, November 19, 2015. Snowmaking close to valley.

    Opening day always draws an enthusiastic crowd of slidders.

    Rainbow at sunrise yesterday morning.

    Awesome weather for opening day.

    Just before sunset Thursday.

Weather Observations for November 20, 2015: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters    -13, Winds were 20-30 KPH NNE  --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters    -12, Winds were 25-30 KPH SSW  --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -8, Winds were 10-15 KPH NNW  --Rendevous
1835 meters      -8, Winds were 5-10 KPH NE  --Roundhouse
1650 meters      -9, 0 cm of new, 76 cm Base, Relative Humidity 60%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      -7, ? cm of new, ? cm Base  --Catskinner 

  660 meters      -8, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +1.7.

    As of 07:00 Hours we have clear skies and unlimited visibility.

For the forecast, a surface ridge will build today into Saturday with clear sunny skies. A dry North-Northeast offshore flow will bring the Freezing level up to 1200 meters later today. FL on Saturday will rise above the local peaks by the evening. A weak front should bring cloudy conditions for Sunday into Monday before a deep upper level low moves onshore.

    High pressure for today.

    Surface Ridge for the next 2 days.

    Precip Monday and Tuesday.



Video Friday;

Know Before You Go: Awesome Production

Trigger Point Avalanche conditions: MountainSledder





Articles:

New snow means Avalanche Season has arrived: Avalanche Canada

How to tame your Avalanche Dragons: Mountains of Growth

Drones being banned from Ski Resorts across North America: California

AvaTech launches crowd sourced AvaNet: EarnYourTurns

Understanding the Extended Column Test: BackcountryMagazine

        Thanks to Anton for sharing this profile from Whistler Roll. Photos below:

                      SH 140 cm Whistler Roll                                           Anton Horvath Image

    SH 3-5 mm 15-11-11  Whistler Roll                                                                Anton Horvath Image

    Seemed like a happy crowd early Thursday morning.

    Making snow mid mountain on Whistler.

    Mount Garibaldi Thursday afternoon.