DECEMBER 16, 2016

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    An avalanche on Hwy 22 (Teton Pass WY) may have been skier triggered, story below. Net Pic

    Lots of people out and about, but no known local activity Thursday.



    YESTERDAY:

    Snow making in the valley has coated some of the trees.

    Early Thursday Morning.

    Snow making in the valley

    Armchair

    Image from Thursday Morning.

    Big Picture.

    Not many, but a few clouds showed up Thursday afternoon.

    Sunset Thursday evening.



OBSERVATIONS:

Weather Observations for December 16, 2016,: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters   -20, Winds were  25-35 KPH S    --Horstman Hut 
2180 meters   -20, Winds were  45-75 KPH NW--Whistler Peak
1860 meters   -17, Winds were  30-40 KPH NE --Rendevous
1835 meters   -18, Winds were  10-20 KPH E    --Roundhouse
1650 meters   -17, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 158 cm Base, RH 70%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters   -15, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 108 cm Base, RH 46%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters   -17, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -11.2, 0.0 mm of Precip recorded yest

As of 06:00 hrs at the peak of Whistler with -20 and avg 60 KPH wind, the wind chill factor is -36.

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


FORECAST:

High pressure with gusty Northerly winds into Saturday. A low out of the Gulf of Alaska will bring a milder wet pattern Sunday with snow in the forecast for early next week in a Westerly flow. Hopefully we will get 25-35 cm by Tuesday morning--stand-by!!! Dress warm today if you are venturing out, wind chill -25 to -35 in the alpine, depending on the wind. Temperatures will hopefully moderate this morning and winds may abate slightly. As of 07:00 Hrs the temperature at 2240 meters was -16, a 4 deg difference from 06:00 hr reading.

    Northerly flow Friday and Saturday.

    High pressure will persist into Saturday.

    Saturday morning.

    Likely cloud development for Saturday.

    Clouds move in on Sunday.

    Looks good for Monday into Tuesday-- 20-30 cm by Tuesday morning possible!!

VIDEO FRIDAY:

Glacier Terrain & when to rope up: YOU TUBE

Helicopter Rescue on Cypress Mountain: NSSR

Skier Avalanche Fatality--Henderson Mountain: Montana

Avalanche in Russia Captured on Video: Georgia



ARTICLES:

Detecting avalanches with Satellite Radar: Science Nordic

Uvex & Ski Magazine launch first ever online avalanche course: Field time is important?

Artillery shell used during artificial triggering of avalanches: Kyrgyzstan

High to Extreme avalanche Danger in California, Idaho, & Wyoming: Snowbrains

Skier my have triggered an avalanche that buried Hwy 22 in 20 Feet of snow: Wyoming




OBSERVATIONS:

Stano Faban December 15 at 3:16pm

We skied around Steep Cr area yesterday. Tagged the summit of Steep Pk, skied the E face and down left. Then skinned/booted up the SW shoulder on 2318 Pk (I don't know other name) and skied off the NW shoulder to N, but due to big wind pillows we opted for a line lower down the shoulder, although, the bigger lines starting higher looked awesome.  Skiing was pretty good overall despite observing lots of wind activity (not much during our day though) - all snow was mostly still pretty fluffy, and faceting powder over a more dense snow or wind slab.  We observed very little-to-none new avalanche activity.  Safety concerns we noticed were: very specially variable wind slab, covered at some places (mostly N-ish aspects) with big pillows of wind transported snow. Big cornices obviously too.  It was also very easy to get some bigger sloughs going on steeper slopes (say above 35) or convex roles.

    Cold dry smoke in the valley early Thursday Morning..

    Track up from Banana Chute from Wednesday.

    Looking into the sun.

    X-Contrails Thursday evening.

    Looking cold in the valley--Skating this weekend?

    Nice light at Day's end.