April 25, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Widespread wet loose cycle Monday & Tuesday.

    Debris on most solar exposed slopes.

    Point release.

    Traverse tracks covered.




    YESTERDAY:

    Early Tuesday morning, bluebird to the South.

    Tuesday just before noon.

    High cirrus began to work its way into the area.

    Nice winter snow on the Horstman Glacier.

    High overcast in the afternoon.

    Tuesday Afternoon.

    Big picture Tuesday.



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

2240 meters     +1, Winds were 10-15 KPH NNE--Horstmsn Hut
1860 meters     +2, Winds were   5-10 KPH E     --Rendevous
1550 meters     +3, 0 cm of new, 0 cm in 24 hrs  Base 228 cm --Catskinner

  660 meters      -1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +21.0, 0.0 mm of precip recorded yest

   As of 07:00 Hrs we have clear skies and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

The strong upper level ridge will dominate the weather pattern into Friday with sunny skies today in a West-Southwesterly flow aloft. The FL will be around 4500 meters with summer like temperatures in the valley. A change is in the air on Friday with some cloud development as an upper level low begins to influence our zone. Saturday and Sunday will see some precipitation with the FL remaining above the local peaks. Monday is looking unsettled as a weak upper trough pushes through before ridging brings us nice weather into next weekend.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    High pressure with warmer temperatures.

    Warm and sunny.

    Another awesome day!!

    Fronts along the coast.

    High again for Thursday.

    Low moving up the coast.



    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Lots of folks doing the Spearhead Traverse.

    Big snowballs, big enough to hurt you.

    Turns from Monday.

    Very warm in the alpine.

    New activity since Monday.

    Large sun dog in the afternoon.





From South Coast Touring:

Stano Faban April 24 at 7:19pm

Conditions on Joffre, Matier, Hartzell and Slalok today:  - We set out around 6am from Joffre Lakes to get all four but backed out of Aussie (8am) as now there are some nasty icy runnels down it.  - Matier NW face was lots of eventful breakable crust skiing but still good temps and in shade (9am or so) probably won't improve next few days.  - We climbed the S ridge to get on top of Hartzell and it was getting quite soft by 9.30-10. Its NW face skied nice (combination of hard on W aspect and quite soft on N-ish aspect)  - Climbing up Slalok the usual E slope before the ridge had good snow, before 11am. (Thanks for a nice track whoever put it in.) Up the ridge was easy cruising. The Stonecrop skied pretty well although quite wind affected. Half-way down we traversed right and skied the very right gully - it was OK.  - Lakes held us up and down! The lower one will be mushy by tmrw.  - Overall, temps on N aspects above 2200m were still cool enough (below zero perhaps) by the time we were there.  - Watch for lots of wind affected patches/slopes and obviously for S aspects any time of day.  - We were done by noon so keep in mind we were out before we could observe any big warming. Virginia Ní HAnnracháin April 25 at 12:05am Quick conditions report from Garibaldi Neve Traverse (North to South) on Sunday:  -road to Rubble Creek parking lot is snow free; snow starts at about 3.5km on the trail  -all lakes are fully frozen (with no open watering holes at Sentinel Bay)  -crevasses on the glacier section are well filled in  -snow wasn't sun affected but freezing levels have risen considerably since then so I expect that is no longer the case  -lots of avalanche debris at Ring Creek (as expected)  -Gargoyles/Columnar hadn't slid  -well trodden trail along the ridge from Elfin Lakes to Red Heather  -snow coverage excellent on the trail all the way down to the parking lot and road from Elfin Lakes parking lot completely snow free (perfect scenario!)  ...A great day in the mountains of B.C....

Avalanche Control on The Duffey Thursday:

SLRD - Squamish-Lillooet Regional District

5 hrs · 

Travel Advisory: Avalanche control will take place on Hwy 99 (Duffey Lake Road)  (Thursday, April 26) from 12 - 2 pm. Please expect delays of up to 20 minutes during this time. Lillooet and Area road conditions

ARTICLES:

Two people rescued from B.C. Avalanche after phone call to Poland for help: CBC News

Parks Mountain Safety: Facebook Page

Watch out for Spring Avalanches: Swiss Radio

Warmer winters in the Himalayas are triggering avalanches: India

Heli-bombing on a Mountain Pass: Italy

700 meter wide avalanche swallows Swiss Road: The Local

Avalanche skier death lawsuit against Vail Resorts will have its day in court: Summit Daily