February 25, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Three missing in Kupwara avalanche in Kashmir. Story in article section.                           Net Pic

    1 Dead, 3 injured after being hit by an avalanche in Switzerland. Story below.                   Net Pic

    Locally, AC produced Sz 1-1.5 Sc Xe.


    YESTERDAY:

    Blue Bird Saturday morning.

    Fresh snow on the Peak to Valley Course.

    Some cloud began to form in the afternoon.

    Building cloud as the day progressed.

    Looking Southwest later in the afternoon.

    Front eventually moved into the valley.

Weather Observations for February 25, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters   -10, Winds were 60-100 KPH SW--Whistler Peak
1835 meters     -9, Winds were   20-70 KPH SW --Roundhouse
1660 meters     -7, 15 cm of new, 15 cm in 24 hrs  Base 299 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters    - 1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +1.8, 2.2 mm of precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have  broken cloud and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

Unsettled weather for today with periods of light snowfall in a Westerly flow aloft, as a weak cool front passes through. Monday morning is looking unsettled before another weak front pushes through in the afternoon.  Tuesday will be overcast with light snow throughout the day, the FL may rise to 900 meters. Wednesday is looking to be possibly the producer this coming week depending on the track of the intense Pacific front brushing by the South Coast. A cool upper level trough will bring unsettled weather to the area on Thursday.
Guesstimates: 1-3 cm by Monday morning, 2-4 cm by Tuesday morning, 4-6 cm by Wednesday morning, 25-45 cm by Thursday morning.

    GOES IR image this am. Frontal band has moved to the SE.

    Unsettled weather for today with seasonable temperatures.

    Front pushed through early this am.

    Unsettled with periods of light snow.

    Fronts along the coast.

    Unsettled Monday morning.

    Weak warm front later in the day.



    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Windy in the alpine Saturday morning.

    Harmony chair is operational!!

    Nice snow yesterday.

    Peak to Valley race had extended periods of tucking!!

    Snow conditions yesterday were awesome.

    Course Inspection.

    Giving it all at the bottom of the course.


Recent Avalanche Canada MIN Reports:

Blackcomb Slack

Rohr Path 69.2

Eldorado Basin

Mt Fromme

Mt Seymour


From South Coast Touring:

	Simon Campbell February 24 at 1:38pm
Overnight trip in the Joffre group on Wednesday and Thursday; cerise creek skin track below the tree-line was slippery in some sections but very manageable nonetheless.  Higher up at and above tree-line we encountered wind effected snow on all aspects, (especially those south facing) and hard wind crusts on vantage ride as well as both the north and south ridges above anniversary glacier. We didn’t see any recent slab avalanches in the area.  Our original plan was to hit Aussie couloir, but three ECT results on the south aspect before the skin track heads up Anniversary glacier (~2000m) showed a prominent storm slab with a propagating fracture 20-40cm deep. We decided to ski other lines.  Definitely take some caution on wind affected slopes, keep an eye out for shooting cracks, and cornices...Other then that there’s some great untracked turns to be had around Keiths!

ARTICLES:

Three missing in Kupwara avalanche after rains, snow hampering rescue operations: Kashmir

1 Dead, 3 injured after being hit by an avalanche in Swizerland: Arolla Area

Avalanche in Himachil, Army Jawan rescued: Northern India

Slide on Momma Bear run causes Polar Peak chair to close: Fernie Mountain Resort

Ski Companies still using Mountain Guides charged in death of British Banker: Italy

Delays due to avalanche control on Hwy 16: Terrace