December 14, 2014

    Early Saturday morning December 13, 2014.

    Not sure if there is a name for this Aura??

    Fracture line on Disease Ridge.

 

    Na result on Disease Ridge.

    Biggest line up on 7 Th Heaven Lift ever!!!

    Surface Hoar development Friday night \ Early Saturday.

    Last light of the day on Mount Currie. Official sunset was at 16:10 on December 13, 2014.


Weather observations for December 14, 2014, taken at 06:00 Hours this am.

2240 meters      -10, Winds were 0-10 KPH from the WSW
2180 meters        -8, Winds were 15-25 KPH from No WNW?
1860 meters        -4, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the E
1835 meters        -3, Winds were 10-20 KPH from the E
1650 meters        -8, No new snow,  Base 98 cm
1550 meters        -6, No new snow, Base 68 cm Relative Humidity 90%

  660 meters        -3, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yest +4.9, 1 mm of Precip recorded  Yest 

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

For the forecast, an upper ridge will bring sunny conditions for today before shifting East Sunday evening allowing a cold front to move into our area for Monday into Tuesday, bringing unsettled conditions. Some cloud may be hanging around some of the peaks during the day.  A weak upper level trough will bring unsettled conditions to the area on Wednesday. Way long term, there is the possibility of a cold front moving in for next Thursday evening with some snow expected. Unfortunately the freezing levels will be hovering around the 1000 meter level to 1300 meter level for most of the week during daylight hours. We will see the FL drop to the valley for the next couple of days during the evening\early morning hours. 

    High pressure is holding off the Coastal precipitation for today.

    Some moisture for Monday night into Tuesday.

    Big Picture from Yesterday.

ARTICLES: 

Avalanche Danger downgraded ahead of the weekend: Avalanche Canada

Global Warming's influence on Extreme Weather: Science Daily

Windslab: Pistehors.com

After the Rain: Avalanche Canada Blog

Ski Touring the Callaghan Valley: Backcountry Skiing Canada

 

    Fracture Line in Whistler Bowl.                                                                        Tim Haggerty Photo

    Whistler Patrol doing a fracture line profile in Whistler Bowl.

                   Thanks to Tim for this profile from Whistler Bowl.

    Just a reminder, if you cross a closure you can loose your skiing\biking privileges for 1 Year. TH P

    There was some convective cloud development on Saturday.

    Must have been 150 Santa's on the hill.

    Santa on some wind affected snow.

    Many people heading up Pika's Traverse before the Peak chair was open.

    It was an awesome day, on a busy Saturday.

    Lots of cool light shows on Saturday.

    Stratus layer was very slow to dissipate, then convective clouds began to form.

    Cool ice formations on Lost lake.

December 13, 2014

    Avalanche Control produced some Size 1 results yesterday morning. Cougar Chute on Blackcomb.

    Size 1.5 result on Whistler from yesterday December 12, 2014.

    Natural Size 3, out of Whistler Bowl sometime Thursday night early Friday morning.

    The alpine on both mountains is scheduled to open today.

    Some intel from Tony:

Here is a photo, you can see the crown that is blown in by last nights snow in the background, the Dec. 09 crust near the surface, the Nov. 28 crust mid profile and the set of crusts (Nov 9/20?) near the bottom. You can also see a portion of the crown line which ends on the top of the uppermost mid Nov. crust in a layer of 1F- 2 cm layer 1.5mm FCxr crystals.

We observed the Fx line yesterday at 2 pm; less than 24 hours old?

Weather observations for December 13, 2014, taken at 06:00 Hours this am.

2240 meters      -10, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the SSW
2180 meters        -7, Winds were 5-10 KPH from No Data
1860 meters        -6, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the NE
1835 meters        -7, Winds were 0-5 KPH from the SSW
1650 meters        -6, Trace of new snow,  Base 98 cm
1550 meters        -4, 1 cm of new snow, Base 66 cm Relative Humidity 99%

  660 meters       +1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yest +6.6, 9.1 mm of Precip recorded early Yest Morning

    As of 07:00 Hours we have clear skies, unlimited visibility with a dissipating stratus layer mid Mtn.

For the forecast, upper level trough exited the area leaving behind mostly sunny skies. The upper ridge will continue to bring sunny conditions into tomorrow with a low level flow offshore. The low pressure off shore will likely split , bringing cloud back to the area sometime Monday. Tuesday is looking cloudy with some light snow expected just above the valley floor. Freezing levels for the next few days will be hovering around 1000 meters. Enjoy the sun. Stratus layer above the valley floor this morning. Precipitation last night from the layer in the valley while the alpine remained cold and dry.

    Model for today.

    Looks nice for Sunday as well.

    Front will move on shore Monday afternoon.

ARTICLES:

Ski Burning in Telluride: Let it Snow

Avalanche Airbag Backpack-Use one or Not: Backcountry.com

Jumbo Glacier Development put on Hold: Foundation in an Avalanche Zone

Ski Accident results in criminal plea: Telluride Collision

    Unsettled weather December 12, 2014; with some great skiing on the new surface.

    New snow covered the deck furniture at the Roundhouse.

    People were hiking where they could yesterday.

    Ptarmigan on Blackcomb Mountain. There were 5 of them!!

    New snow over the debris in Lakeside Bowl, be wary of frozen debris under the new in the bowls.

    Different perspective of the Whistler Bowl Natural Avalanche.

   Three of the gaggle of 5.

December 12, 2014

    Great light early Thursday morning, snow stuck to everything from the storm early in the am!!

    Snow line came down to 1300 meters early yesterday morning, December 10, 2014.

    Avalanche control yesterday produced some size 1 slides, and size 2.5 Na were observed.

    Boomer Bowl, Whistler-Size 2.5 facets on crust water lubed.                        Braden Douglas Photo

    1 meter Fracture Line.                                                                                    Braden Douglas Photo



Weather observations for December 12, 2014, taken at 06:00 Hours this am.

2240 meters        -5, Winds were 65-95 KPH from the SSE
2180 meters        -4, Winds were 50-75 KPH Direction?
1860 meters        -3, Winds were 40-75 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters        -2, Winds were 20-60 KPH from the SSE
1650 meters     -0.5, 24 cm of new snow, 32 cm in 24 hours,  Base 106 cm
1550 meters         0, 25 cm of new snow, Base 72 cm, Relative Humidity 99%

  660 meters       +4, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yest +5.3, 10.5 of Precip recorded before midnight

Maximum wind last night at 2240 meters was 125KPH. Minimum temperature was -2.5.

    As of 06:45 we have obscured skies and limited visibility. Bring your pow skis!!



For the forecast, the strong low pressure system originating from the South was nice enough to give us 25 cm of new snow overnight above 1400 meters. An upper trough will develop today for cloudy conditions with some flurries possible in the morning. Winds are abating at this time. Freezing levels will slowly decline as the day progresses, bottoming out at around 1000 meters.  High pressure will build over the weekend with drier conditions in a benign pattern.. Saturday looks unsettled with a FL around 1000 meters. Sunday is looking sunny with slightly cooler temperatures bringing the FL from 1000 meters to 800 meters by days end. A split flow is expected next week, but there is no confidence from the models to what will happen. More on that as we get closer. Some models have a weak system approaching Thursday.

    Satellite image at 13:00 Hours on Thursday. Snowing 2.5 cm per hour at 1870 meters.

    The big picture yesterday around 13:00 hours.

    Moisture from last night's front is heading Northeast. Did not think it would be that intense Yest.

    Upper trough developing in the lows wake. Cloudy conditions for today.

    Looking like a nice day for Saturday! Unsettled.




Video Fridays:


Avalanche Rescue Simulation: Kicking Horse Resort

Best Avalanche Awareness video for Sledders: Knowledge is Power

Ambulance Drone: Flying AED

Flying Harley: What next!!

Guy Slips on base Jump Launch: Head Down

Line of the Year: Cody Townsend



ARTICLES:

Crystal Mountain first to adopt Diesel Electric Cat: Ski Area Management

Powerful Storm closing mountain passes in California: Avalanche Concerns

Red Bull's Cold Rush, February 3-6, 2014: Revelstoke

Some Guidelines to decide if a line is safe to ski in the Backcountry: Teton Gravity



Some observations from Jason M.
Today we went up Blackcomb to Lakeside Bowl and did a bunch of profiles just below the lake around 1900m, I have attached the profile from there.  That spot was not in a wind loaded area so doesn't represent the WSL that continues to build.  There were no popping results but the one that stays in the back of my head is the crust down 58cm that was getting hard SP results but no full block propagation on the ECT.  Overall it was a moist pack with lots of crusts.
While on site it was snowing S1 and up to S4 at times and winds were moderate with variable direction, seemed to be settling into a SE.  
As far as avi obs, there were some slabs out below Blackcomb peak running to the edge of the lake, ranging probably from 12-36hrs.  The other one of interest was seen across the valley at the lookers right side of Boomer bowl, estimated from a far as a Sz2 Na 50deep and in the past 12hrs as it seemed still pretty crisp from all the way across the valley.  
Otherwise the only other note we had today was that lots of the slabs from the first cycle seem to have filled back in and could be ready to play again. 

Cheers, 
Jason

Thanks for the intel Jason.

    30 cm of new above 1700 meters yesterday.

    Not looking so nice in the valley. Still man snow to the valley, we could use a few cold days.

    At 1500 meters the frozen snow on the ropes was very difficult to remove.

    The Alpine will be opening on the weekend, please do not do silly things to end your year.

    The water flow out of the mountains yesterday slowed significantly.

    Awesome to see the temperatures co-operating. 2-3 degrees colder would have been amazing!!

                                     Enjoying Thursday.                            Toby Salin Photo