May 11, 2017

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

   No new avalanche activity observed yest, warm temperatures forced a closure on 7 Th Heaven.


    YESTERDAY:

    Unsettled early Wednesday morning May 10, 2017.

    There was some blue.

    Clouds began to move in early Wednesday morning.

    Ceiling began to drop.

    Early Wednesday morning.

    Looking Southwest in the afternoon.

    Wednesday afternoon.

    Looking Northwest Wednesday afternoon.

    Looking moist by 15:00 Hours.

    Drizzle by 15:30 hours.

    Looking into the valley at 16:30 Hours.


Weather Observations for May 11, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -1, Winds were 15-25 KPH SE--Horstman Hut 
1860 meters     +2, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE--Rendevous
1550 meters     +2, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 220 cm Base, RH 95%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters     +7, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +17.9, 0.3 mm of Precip recorded yest

6.7 mm recorded at 1550 meters this am at 06:00 Hrs. Looks like the majority of the rain will stay South of our zone. 

    As of 07:00 hrs this am we have overcast skies, variable visibility and it is raining.


FORECAST:

A large upper cold low off the coast will send a cold front through our zone today in a Southerly Flow aloft. The FL is at around 2000 meters this am and will slowly descend to about 1400 meters by tonight. The low will move onshore Friday with more cool showery weather and the FL ranging from 1000 meters to a high of 1600 meters. An upper trough will bring unsettled weather for Saturday with relatively dry conditions and some breaks in the cloud. The trough will slowly move through into Sunday with unsettled weather, mostly cloudy before another low out of the Gulf of Alaska sends a weak front our way for Monday. Tuesday at this time is looking unsettled with a ridge building for Wednesday. Guesstimates: 10-15 cm above 1600 meters by Friday morning, 8-12 cm above 1600 meters by Saturday morning, 4-6 cm by Sunday morning above 1700 meters.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    Brunt of the precipitation arrives today, difficult to calculate how much!!

    Rex Block (click for explanation) creating unfavourable weather for our zone.

    Low moves South and onshore Friday.

    Looks like there may be some breaks on Saturday.

    Another low drops in from the Gulf of Alaska for Sunday.

    Cool showery weather Monday into Tuesday.

    Ridge builds for Wednesday.


OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

	Eric Carter May 10 at 9:04am
Tantalus Traverse conditions: Snow patches started ~530m on the way up the Sigurd Trail. We started skinning at 890m. Huge banks along the creek, the bridge was guarded by large overhanging snowbanks so we continued up the right side of the creek until 1040m and found a snow bridge to cross. Cool bear prints crossing at the Pelion-Zenith pass. Rumbling Glacier was definitely crevassed but easy enough to weave around and find a nice route. Despite looking a bit slushy from above, Lake Lovely Water was nice and firm for skating. Lots of snow at the Tantalus hut. Couldn't follow the trail exactly from the bridge but skied down to 890m where we switched back to shoes. The road to the cable car is really messed up. Aside from being gated and boulder blocked, there is a culvert that has been dug up and looks pretty impassable.

    Bears are out and about around Base 2.

    Glazed but not much crust recovery on Wednesday.

    Cornices are still an issue.

    Duffey Lake Road avalanche debris.                                                                 Spencer Luces Image

    Setting up for the bike park.


ARTICLES:

Avalanches and snow slides: Kidzworld

Update on the ski tourer killed in an avalanche in the Hautes Alps: France

Update on the three ski tourer's killed in an avalanche near Bonneval-sur-Arc: France

Full Flower Moon was last night: May 10, 2017

What should you do if you are caught in an avalanche: Worldatlas