Jan 1, 2008
Whistler Avalanche conditions
January 01, 2008
Alpine: Moderate
Treeline: Moderate
Below Treeline: Low
Travel Advisory: Cold low density snow has slowly been loading over settling soft slabs, but all those rocks and exposed crusts are still out there. Moderate to strong winds Saturday night from the SE and SW formed some soft windslabs in the alpine that were easily reacting to a ski cut. Cornice tabs have also grown and they are fragile as well. The Dec 4th rain crust is buried anywhere from 60-150cm deep on some lee slopes, but it can still be found on the surface at ridgelines and on some windward slopes.
Avalanche Activity: Size one soft windslabs were easily triggered on Sunday morning. They were propagating widely, with crowns averaging 10-20cm in depth. It seemed that the slab became particularly reactive lower in the alpine elevations. Last week several size two slabs stepped down an average of one meter to the Dec 4 crust and facet layer that is buried from 0.6 to 1.5 meters below the surface. As previously noted, Saturday night’s wind formed lots of new cornice tabs that are breaking easily.
Snowpack: In the alpine terrain a soft windslab is sitting on underlying layers of less dense storm snow. As you drop below treeline there is no slab. The December 4th facet crystal and raincrust weakness is gradually getting buried deeper, but the crust can still be found on the surface in some wind affected terrain. These layers may be a persistent weakness in some areas well into the season. Shallow rocky terrain is facetted as well, and failures there could propagate into the deeper instabilities. The forecast heavy snowfall and warming temperatures this week will be the first real test of these weaknesses, and you can expect to see some significant natural avalanching to occur. Given the depth of the instability, the avalanches have the potential to run full path to threaten the usually safe valley routes.
Weather: We can expect flurries today to become heavy snowfall overnight tonight accompanied by strong winds. This will be the first in a series of systems embedded in a South-Westerly flow that will bring heavy snowfall and milder temperatures for the remainder of the week
January 01, 2008
Alpine: Moderate
Treeline: Moderate
Below Treeline: Low
Travel Advisory: Cold low density snow has slowly been loading over settling soft slabs, but all those rocks and exposed crusts are still out there. Moderate to strong winds Saturday night from the SE and SW formed some soft windslabs in the alpine that were easily reacting to a ski cut. Cornice tabs have also grown and they are fragile as well. The Dec 4th rain crust is buried anywhere from 60-150cm deep on some lee slopes, but it can still be found on the surface at ridgelines and on some windward slopes.
Avalanche Activity: Size one soft windslabs were easily triggered on Sunday morning. They were propagating widely, with crowns averaging 10-20cm in depth. It seemed that the slab became particularly reactive lower in the alpine elevations. Last week several size two slabs stepped down an average of one meter to the Dec 4 crust and facet layer that is buried from 0.6 to 1.5 meters below the surface. As previously noted, Saturday night’s wind formed lots of new cornice tabs that are breaking easily.
Snowpack: In the alpine terrain a soft windslab is sitting on underlying layers of less dense storm snow. As you drop below treeline there is no slab. The December 4th facet crystal and raincrust weakness is gradually getting buried deeper, but the crust can still be found on the surface in some wind affected terrain. These layers may be a persistent weakness in some areas well into the season. Shallow rocky terrain is facetted as well, and failures there could propagate into the deeper instabilities. The forecast heavy snowfall and warming temperatures this week will be the first real test of these weaknesses, and you can expect to see some significant natural avalanching to occur. Given the depth of the instability, the avalanches have the potential to run full path to threaten the usually safe valley routes.
Weather: We can expect flurries today to become heavy snowfall overnight tonight accompanied by strong winds. This will be the first in a series of systems embedded in a South-Westerly flow that will bring heavy snowfall and milder temperatures for the remainder of the week
