First Bulletin of the year! Ice climbers are encouraged to carry avalanche gear while on routes with overhead hazard. November 4th was our first avalanche involvement last season and involved ice climbers. Be sure to evaluate overhead terrain.
Confidence
Poor - Due to the number and quality of field observations
Weather Forecast
Up to another 10-15cm of snow is likely to fall over the next 3 days. This will add to whats on the ground already in Alpine areas and we may see a few more areas getting close to threshold levels in terms of depth for avalanches to occur. Right now the biggest concern is to ice climbers who spend time in gullied and steep terrain.
Avalanche Summary
Observations were limited due to visibility throughout the day but we can suspect there were a few loose dry events occuring at higher elevations in steeper terrain.
Snowpack Summary
Snow is starting to accumulate in Alpine areas as the winter nears. Above treeline in Alpine areas up to 30cm of snow is on the ground and then with recent winds, there are pockets of snow up to 1m deep in lee areas. This snow is laying on ... ground in many areas as the snowpack is not very complex yet and there are not many layers. Having said that, The ground can be a problem layer in itself so be sure to keep your hands in the snowpack checking for stiffness in slabs overlying the ground looking for weaknesses.
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.