February 26, 2008
Whistler Avalanche conditions
February 26, 2008
Alpine: Low
Treeline: Low
Below Treeline: Low
Travel Advisory: A dusting of fresh snow fell Feb 23 and it is overlying a variety of old surfaces. Exposed alpine terrain is wind affected and a sun crust dominates solar aspects. Cornices have grown and are fragile so give them a wide berth from both above and below. Keep in mind that a surface slab in motion has the potential to step down to older buried windslabs and wind-hammered surfaces.
Avalanche Activity: Cloud cover today will help preserve the melt freeze crust on solar aspects, so unless the sun makes an appearance there should be little sluff activity. Cornices have been reactive to small triggers, stay well back. The most recent activity on the Dec 04 Crust and facet layer was on January 21st and was initiated by a large cornice fall.
Snowpack: Sunny mild weather last week resulted in the formation of a sun-crust on any sun exposed slopes. The crust varies in strength depending on the aspect and steepness of the terrain. North aspects have maintained winter like snow in spite of the warm temperatures. Strong east and northeast winds Sunday moved small amounts of loose snow around, but there was little snow available for transport and any resulting windslabs are quite small. At treeline and below treeline elevations several surface hoar and facet layers are now buried anywhere from 40-80cm in depth. There have been no reports of any whumphing, cracking, or any isolated skier and machine triggered avalanche activity on these buried weaknesses since last week. The Dec 4th crust and facet layer lies dormant for now, buried deeply within our snowpack in most areas.
Weather: We can expect to see clouds and flurries today with the freezing level rising to 1400m by this afternoon. Periods of snow with small amounts of accumulation are forecast for tonight and Wednesday. There will be sunny breaks on Thursday and there is a possibility of heavy snow fall on Friday.
February 26, 2008
Alpine: Low
Treeline: Low
Below Treeline: Low
Travel Advisory: A dusting of fresh snow fell Feb 23 and it is overlying a variety of old surfaces. Exposed alpine terrain is wind affected and a sun crust dominates solar aspects. Cornices have grown and are fragile so give them a wide berth from both above and below. Keep in mind that a surface slab in motion has the potential to step down to older buried windslabs and wind-hammered surfaces.
Avalanche Activity: Cloud cover today will help preserve the melt freeze crust on solar aspects, so unless the sun makes an appearance there should be little sluff activity. Cornices have been reactive to small triggers, stay well back. The most recent activity on the Dec 04 Crust and facet layer was on January 21st and was initiated by a large cornice fall.
Snowpack: Sunny mild weather last week resulted in the formation of a sun-crust on any sun exposed slopes. The crust varies in strength depending on the aspect and steepness of the terrain. North aspects have maintained winter like snow in spite of the warm temperatures. Strong east and northeast winds Sunday moved small amounts of loose snow around, but there was little snow available for transport and any resulting windslabs are quite small. At treeline and below treeline elevations several surface hoar and facet layers are now buried anywhere from 40-80cm in depth. There have been no reports of any whumphing, cracking, or any isolated skier and machine triggered avalanche activity on these buried weaknesses since last week. The Dec 4th crust and facet layer lies dormant for now, buried deeply within our snowpack in most areas.
Weather: We can expect to see clouds and flurries today with the freezing level rising to 1400m by this afternoon. Periods of snow with small amounts of accumulation are forecast for tonight and Wednesday. There will be sunny breaks on Thursday and there is a possibility of heavy snow fall on Friday.
