Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: February 23, 2016

Self guided trip out of Sunrise Lodge where party was involved in avalanche. Austin Ross Blog Pic

Stratus layer in the morning, lifted as the day progressed.

Cornice failure in Flute Bowl yesterday. Lucky snowboarder survived fall. Kary Firstbrook Pic

Size 2.5 Sa Flute bowl, patrol searched debris with dog and Recco. No one injured. Kary Pic

Thanks to Ryan Bergeron for this image, North side of Decker 14:00 Hours yesterday, Sa.

Thanks to Bryce Anderson for these pictures and observations:

Did a trip out to Fissile yesterday to ski the NW Face/Main Chute. We entered the face far skier’s right to avoid convexity's. The initial ski cut produced no results, but on the second ski cut a soft slab was released. Fractured at the initial ski cut, about 2.5 meters above the second cut. Max crown depth approx. 30-40cms, 15-20m wide, ran for a considerable distance (400m?). The debris picked up a fair bit of loose surface snow along the way, but no step downs. Temps were cold and winds were calm.

Did not see much else in the way of avalanche activity the rest of the day other than some point releases on solar aspects late in the day. The height of the Overlord Glacier below Fissile sure has dropped significantly over the years……..

Bryce Anderson Image

Stratus layer lifted and became convective. Greg Dixon Image

Awesome snow and great light yesterday. Greg Dixon Image

Alpin Glow yesterday evening.

Full moon last night.

Weather Observations for February 23, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -11, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters -10, Winds were 25-30 KPH SE --Whistler Peak
1860 meters -8, Winds were 5-10 KPH ESE --Rendevous
1835 meters -7, Winds were 5-15 KPH E --Roundhouse
1650 meters -8, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 259 cm Base, RH 92% --Pig Alley
1550 meters -8, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 198 cm Base, RH 85% --Catskinner

660 meters -6, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.5. 0.0 mm of Precip recorded

From the above images, yesterday was a fairly busy day. Be careful out there!

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

For the forecast, high pressure strengthens from the West, with sunny skies for today, in a Northwesterly flow aloft, shifting to Westerly later today. The offshore flow yesterday eventually scoured out most of the cloud. The FL will rise to around 1500 meters later in the day. A weak cold front approaches the coast on Wednesday so we will likely see some cloud development. The ridge strengthens again for Thursday with mostly sunny skies. The ridge shifts to the East Friday as another front moves onshore. More on that as we get closer. As the week progresses we will see a daily rise in the FL, by Thursday it could be as high as 2000 meters. Get out the sunscreen!!

High pressure holding off low.

Weak front on Wednesday looks to be mostly South.

Flow for today into Wednesday. Nwly switching to Westerly.

Frontal band for Friday.

High moves East for Friday.

ARTICLES:

Golden B.C. Area where deadly avalanches hit was on alert: Globe & Mail

Seven Skiers hurt in BC were on Self Guided Trip: City News

One dead after 6 off piste skiers caught in an avalanche in Switzerland: Mittelallalin

Avalanche Fatality in Austria: Ankogel

Avalanche Fatality reported at Grand Targhee Resort: Teton Gravity Research

Its been a deadly winter for Backcountry Fun: HighCountryNews

Avalanches a known risk for Backcountry users, guides say: CBC News