February 17, 2016

     Backside of chocolate bowl nw face. Snowboard triggered, 40cm stiff storm slab. Able to ride out . Toby Salin Photo

     Sunrise yesterday morning Tuesday February 16, 2016

    Natural activity was very obvious yesterday.

    There were areas that saw strong winds.

                Whistler SAR responded to the Brandywine area, Hospital Air. Toby Salin Pic

    Stiff slabs were easily ski cut yesterday.

    Very stiff slabs in some areas.

    Peak Chair Gong Show Yesterday                                                             Alexandra Pierce Image

    Days end Tuesday February 16, 2016. 

Weather Observations for February 17, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -3, Winds were 45-60 KPH SSE  --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters     -3, Winds were 30-40 KPH SSE  --Whistler Peak
1860 meters     -1, Winds were 20-35 KPH E       --Rendevous
1835 meters     -1, Winds were 15-30 KPH SE    --Roundhouse 
1650 meters     -3, 6 cm of new snow, 6 cm in 24 hrs, 261 cm Base, RH 98%    --Pig Alley
1550 meters     -4, 5 cm of new snow, 5 cm in 24 hrs, 202 cm Base, RH 98%    --Catskinner

  660 meters      0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +6.6. 0.3 mm of Precip recorded

    As of 07:00 Hours this am we have overcast skies, variable visibility and it is snowing lightly.


For the forecast, a weak warm front is pushing through the area this morning with light precipitation in a Southerly flow aloft. A cold front will move through later this afternoon with an increase in precipitation and stronger winds. The FL should top out at around 1700 meters this afternoon than gradually descend to 1200 meters by tomorrow morning. The low pressure system to our Northwest will send a series of fronts our way into the weekend, with a break on Saturday with unsettled weather. Guesstimates: 8-12 cm by Thursday morning, 5-8 cm by Friday morning, 10-18 cm by Saturday morning.

    Weak warm front followed by a cold front for today.

    Low pressure will send frontal bands our way into Friday.

    System for Friday should bring good skiing for Saturday morning.



ARTICLES:

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Alberta man recalls terrifying ordeal od being buried in an avalanche: LaCombe, Alb.

Testing Dynafits 2016 Head to Toe Backcountry Ski Kit: GearJunkies

The demise of the warm Blob: West Coast of BC

Don't take storm snow for granted, especially when the sun comes out: Powder Canada

    Image from yesterday afternoon.

    Snow was very reactive yesterday.

    Thanks to Francois Hebert for these 3 images and observations from Russet Ridge.

Aspect: N

Elevation 1800 m

size 1.5

Width 50 m

Length 15m

Crown 15 cm at the thinnest, 40 cm at the thickest.

 I was doing a traverse and hit a small convexity and I saw it propagate from my ski tips.  I was surprised how easily it propagated , this spot was in lee terrain but still relatively open so it had a 5 cm thick 4 Finger slab on it.  

I triggered it from the top right of the photos in a slightly fatter spot in relatively gentle terrain 20-25 degrees. The area on the left of the photos is a bit steeper 30 to 35 degrees. The slide did not run far since the terrain right below this roll is quite flat.

I had a chance to do some observations at the crown line. 

The slide went on the Feb 10 Crust . The bed surface was 1F+ 

At the tree line the snow today was generally  slabby, and upside down with variable distribution on the feb 10 crust. 

Conditions in the BTL were excellent with 25-30 cm SP and no wind effect. 

No other avalanche obs today. We didn't see any naturals or any other activity. With a bit more load in the upcoming storms the feb 10th layer is likely to become more reactive. 

Strong Solar Radiation in the afternoon, we now have a Sun Crust on South aspects. 

Thanks for all that you do on your blog, I read it every day. 

Hope you are having a good season .