Lawinenlagebericht

South Columbia

Feb 19 – 20, 2015Avalanche Canada
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Archiviert · abgelaufen 12 years ago

Lawinengefahr

Sat
Sun
Hochgebirge
1 · Gering
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Hazard is low; however, give cornices respect when travelling in the alpine. They are a stand-alone hazard but could also be a potential trigger for deep slabs.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–3
    Pockets of wind slab may still be reactive in steep lee terrain or cross-loaded gully features in the alpine. Cornices are large and potentially weak and should be given a wide berth.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    3–6
    Buried persistent weaknesses are largely dormant but could still be triggered by a large load (i.e. cornice fall) or from areas with a shallow or variable snowpack. 

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

We should see a couple more days of mainly cloudy skies with light flurries before the ridge of high pressure rebuilds returning the province to sunny conditions by late Saturday or Sunday. The freezing level is around 1500 m on Friday and lowers to just under 1000 m on the weekend. Winds are light gusting to moderate from the NW on Friday and switch to north-easterly for the weekend.

Avalanche Summary

For the past few days we have seen a few size 2-3 natural and explosive triggered slabs and cornice failures (sometimes triggering slabs and sometimes not) each day. Almost all of these have been from steep alpine terrain on a variety of aspects. There have also been reports of the odd small (size 1) skier triggered wind slab.

Snowpack Summary

The snow surface is a mix of surface hoar, crusts, low density snow, or wind affected snow depending on aspect and elevation. The "Valentine's Day" crust is just below the surface and is now strong and thick in most places. At alpine elevations, new wind slabs may have formed from NW winds, and cornices are large and weak. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer (up to 100 cm deep) and the mid-January surface hoar (80-120 cm deep) continue to give variable results in snowpack tests. Chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased, but triggering may be possible from thin or rocky snowpack areas; or perhaps with a cornice fall, or an avalanche stepping down, especially on sun drenched slopes.

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