Scary Avalanches at Bijoux

<p>It was a high hazard avalanchey kind of day! With 85cm of storm snow over the last few days sitting on a weak layer and strong winds with more snow throughout the day conditions were primed for avalanches. We saw debris and a fracture line from a large natural avalanche as soon as we reached tree line. We experienced shooting cracks while riding and were able to trigger avalanches on small test slopes with our sleds. We dug down to look at the layers and found two bad ones - the first about 25cm down was a storm slab that will likely bond in a few days (blue arrow in pit photo), the other is a persistent weak layer that is made up of a rain crust with surface hoar or facets around it about 65cm deep (red arrow). At the end of the day on our way out we also remotely triggered several avalanches on the powerline where the upper snowpack was wet from rain. See incident tab for details of avalanche that caught 3 riders in the area today. </p>

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Deep powder.

Weather Conditions

Stormy.