December 2, 2016

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    No new avalanche activity to report but take note of the cornice development!!

    YESTERDAY'S CONDITIONS:

    First Light Thursday December 1, 2016--dark and grey!!

    Improving visibility in the morning.

    Eventually it became a fabulous morning.

    Clouds did come back at around noon with some light flurries.

    Image from 13:00 Hrs, Thursday.

    Satellite image from same time frame as above image.

    A brief moment of sun at days end.

Weather Observations for December 2, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters    -5, Winds were 50-75 KPH S     --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters    -5, Winds were 50-70 KPH S     --Whistler Peak
1860 meters    -3, Winds were 30-55 KPH SE   --Rendevous
1835 meters    -2, Winds were 20-70 KPH S      --Roundhouse
1650 meters    -2, 4 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 171 cm Base, RH 99%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters    -4, 3 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 115 cm Base        --Catskinner 

  660 meters     0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +3.0. 0.2 mm of Precip recorded yest

Normal Temperatures for this time of the year are Max 0 Min -5 at 660 meters.

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have obscured skies, variable visibility and it is snowing 1 cm per hour.

FOR THE FORECAST:

A warm front in a Westerly flow will bring light precipitation to the area today with a FL which may rise to 1400 Meters. A cold front will follow later in the day with the FL dropping to about 1000 Meters by tonight. We may see some breaks tonight before another cold front moves through the area, with light snowfall and a descending FL on Saturday. This cold upper level trough of low pressure and associated cold front will bring the FL down to sea level by early Sunday morning. Looking cold Sunday through Wednesday. Hopefully we will see a shift by Wednesday night with more snow!!
Guesstimates 8-12 cm by Saturday morning, 10-15 cm by Sunday morning.

    Westerly flow with most of the precipitation to our North.

    Light snowfall expected for today.

    A different perspective.

VIDEO FRIDAY:

Volkl 108 Review: Outside Magazine Video

509 Volume II-- Sled Flick: Teaser

Telemark Skiing Today vs Its Birth in 1850's: Norway

ARTICLES:

Knowledge, Common Sense are useful Tools in Avoiding Avalanches: CNFAIC 

British Ski Instructor wins his case in French Courts: PlanetSki

More information on the avalanche in Austria last week: PlanetSki

Ski Touring News: Wildsnow.com



RECENT OBSERVATIONS:

Photos and observations from Jeff Van Driel:

Hi Wango,

I went out for a ski on the Duffey today and got some beta. Early season conditions prevail. Approaches and forested terrain remain challenging below treeline. At treeline and above, coverage is decent but underlying features have yet to be smoothed over resulting in 'playful' skiing on normally smooth slopes. No glacier travel today, but I would approach them with caution and preparation. 15cm of low density snow overlies a layer of surface hoar size 2-3mm at 1930m NW aspect. No results yet on this layer as there is not enough load or cohesion above. Below this, the snowpack resistances increase gradually to the crust down 100cm.  No results on the crust as the bond appears to be good. Height of snow is 150cm. 

We had broken skies, no precip no wind and it was -5.0 at treeline. Ski pen was 25cm and foot pen was 65cm. 

No new slab avalanches observed, just small isolated natural loose sluffs out of steep terrain. 

Enjoy the snow!

Cheers 

Jeff

    Pit from Dec 1, 2016                                                                                          Jeff Van Driel Image

    Looks like good snow on the Duffy.                                                                    Jeff Van Driel Image


Lee Lau 
December 1, 2016

Ski quality average. Fast light snow on SE facing slopes with ski pen approx 30cms on Flute Shoulder. Also blower on N facing slopes on Oboe with coverage fat at 1900m and then creeks showing at 1700m; quite the variation.

Hint of windslab on Nfaces which then became a stout supportive slab below a wind and powder skin on NW slopes on Lesser Flute reentering ski area. Still fun fast snow.

It's so obvious as to not need be stated but clearly the coverage down low would be character building.. Cornices already large! Winds light from SE. Temps - 5.

    Awesome morning!!

    Not sure if I have ever seen a skin track up to the Chimney!!

    Cold enough Thursday morning for some snow production.

    Good looking December First.

    Light flurries in the afternoon, with cloudy skies.