YESTERDAY:
Sunday Jan 10, 2021. 08:30 Hrs. -3 with a 10-20 KPH East wind.2240 meters -5, Winds were 110-140 KPH ENE--Horstman Hut
1860 meters -2, Winds were 40-75 KPH SE --Rendezvous
1560 meters -1, 6 cm in 12 Hrs, 7 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 174 cm--Catskinner
FORECAST:
Wet, windy weather for today in a South west flow aloft as an atmospheric river heads our way.. A cold front will push through today with periods of light to moderate precip with strong winds. The FL will hover around 1500 meters. A warm front arrives for Tuesday with moderate to heavy precip.. Hopefully most of the warm air will go South of our area, along with some of the heavy precip. Front on Tuesday will fissile out by Wednesday am, with a ridge building, bringing unsettled weather for the am with sunny skies by the afternoon. Unsettled Thursday with cooler temperatures and a mix of sun and cloud. Guesstimates: 25-30 cm above 1500 meters by 06:00 Tuesday, 35-45 cm above 1650 meters by Wednesday am, 0 cm by Thursday am.
Avalanche Summary
A large (size 3) avalanche was remotely triggered by skiers on Cowboy Ridge near Whistler on Saturday. The avalanche occurred on a north to northwest aspect at around 1900 m. The crown ranged reached up to 200 cm and was approximately 200 m wide. Check out this MIN for photos and more information. A similar avalanche was remotely triggered by skiers on a nearby westerly slope on Thursday; check out this MIN for more info and photos.
These avalanches are clear evidence that the weak layers described in the Snowpack Summary are still triggerable by riders and the consequence of being caught would be high.
Otherwise, small storm and wind slab avalanches were triggered by riders and naturally on Saturday and Sunday, generally 10 to 30 cm deep, on north to northwest aspects, and at treeline and alpine elevations.
Snowpack Summary
New storm and wind slabs will form during Sunday night into Monday's storm. The storm is expected to drop around 15 to 30 cm of snow, with the most in the west of the region. The storm will come with strong southwest wind so wind slabs are expected at higher elevations.
The snowpack is currently quite complex. Numerous layers of surface hoar may be found in sheltered terrain in the top 100 to 150 cm. The area of greatest concern is around 100 to 200 cm deep, where surface hoar or sugary faceted grains may sit above a hard melt-freeze crust from early December. There have been several recent large natural and human-triggered avalanches on this layer, particularly around Whistler and Pemberton.
Near the base of the snowpack there may be faceted grains above a crust from early-November, which was identified as the failure layer in recent sporadic large avalanche releases.
LOCAL AVALANCHE CANADA MIN REPORTS:
Rohr Area: Jan 10, 2021
Wet Loose -South Coast: Jan 10, 2021
Disease Ridge: Jan 10, 2021
From South Coast Touring:
Mitch Sulkers-Oboe Creek
We kept mostly in the trees during the day, but popped into the alpine to check out Saturday's Cowboy Ridge sz 3 and found hard slabs building with strong ESE winds.
VIDEOS:
Skier sets off large avalanche: Montana
Powder Picker Jan 10, 2021: David Jones
ARTICLES:
Skier, Snowmobiler narrowly escape separate avalanches in Tahoe Backcountry: California
'They're very Lucky'-Avalanche near Whistler partially buries skiers, but no injuries: CTV News
Fetch and Deposition: CSAC
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