Valemount avalanche and snowpack observations

[VARDA]

It has been suggested by a few people that perhaps we should open up a thread SPECIFIC to snowpack information.

Please fee free to post away, but keep it to snowpack and avalanche oberservations only! I intend to keep this thread specific to observations and will be asking Mods to help clean it up if needed.

Try to be as technical as possible with your information, but if you are unsure of the terminology to use, please just describe what you see. If you have questions on what is written, maybe send the poster a private message.

Please be sure to include the date and time of your observations.

Thank you,

 

[VARDA]

Posted by bcskier2


Clemina Conditions on Friday November 21 and Sunday November 23

Into Clemina on Friday and Sunday for some more early season ski touring. About 12-15cm since previous weekend, giving maybe 60cm at road from about 15km to cabin. Higher up there is about 80cm where wind hasn't moved things around too much. Still lots of open water in Morning Glory, and in a few spots in Goat Ridge Bowl. Snowed all of the time I was up there on Sunday, with about 5cm accumulated in about 6 hours.

On Friday dug pit at about 6650ft on 30 degree SE facing slope in sheltered location on Goat Ridge Bowl side of ridge between Goat Ridge Bowl and No-Name Bowl. CTM15 below raincrust about 20cm down and CTH21 about 60cm down at density boundary, both sudden planar. ECT showed collapse but no propagation. Results were repeatable in that pit.

On Sunday, as I moved into open treeline areas, could feel a "punchy" layer a few cms below surface. Stopped and dug pit at about 6700ft on 20 degree SW facking slope in open area heading up to saddle south of Stargazer Peak (radio tower). CTE3 below wind crust about 8cm down, CTM11 at top of rain crust about 20cm down, CTM17 at bottom of rain crust about 28cm down (rain crust was about 8cm thick here), all sudden planar. ECT showed collapse but no propagation. Results were repeatable in that pit. "Punchy" layer was in all wind-exposed areas at treeline, and reacted repeatedly in hand shear tests.

 

[VARDA]

Posted by Depsnolvr Nov 22

We saw similar snow levels in the Allen Creek area today. Treeline to alpine averaged between 70-90cm depending on distribution.
The wind has been hammering quite hard from the south and slabbing is apparent near ridgetops.

The snowpack is a mixed bag for sure and it will be very intersting to see how it plays out. We saw the same failures as noted above by BCskier in ther upper of the two crusts.

 

[Valemount Skier]

Clemina observations - Friday November 21 and Sunday November 23

Into Clemina on Friday and Sunday for some more early season ski touring. About 12-15cm since previous weekend, giving maybe 60cm at road from about 15km to cabin. Higher up there is about 80cm where wind hasn't moved things around too much. Still lots of open water in Morning Glory, and in a few spots in Goat Ridge Bowl. Snowed all of the time I was up there on Sunday, with about 5cm accumulated in about 6 hours.

On Friday dug pit at about 6650ft on 30 degree SE facing slope in sheltered location on Goat Ridge Bowl side of ridge between Goat Ridge Bowl and No-Name Bowl. 80cm snowpack. CTM15 (shovel compression test result medium on 5th hit from elbow after 10 hits from wrist) below raincrust about 20cm down and CTH21 (shovel compression test result hard on 1st hit from shoulder after 10 hits from wrist and 10 hits from elbow) about 60cm down at density boundary (stiffer snow below less stiff snow), both sudden planar (failures broke at once or "popped", and the shear between layers was clean). ECT (extended column test) showed collapse but no propagation. Results were repeatable in that pit.

On Sunday, below treeline surface hoar that had been in all open-ish areas previous week could be found under fresh snow. As I moved into open treeline areas, encountered a thin but supportive windslab that I was "punching through" in places. Stopped and dug a pit at about 6700ft on 20 degree SW facing slope in open area heading up to saddle south of Stargazer peak (radio tower). 80cm snowpack. CTE3 (shovel compression test result easy on 3rd hit from wrist) below wind slab about 8cm down, CTM11 (shovel compression test result medium on 1st hit from elbow after 10 hits from wrist) at top of rain crust about 20cm down, CTM17 (shovel compression test result medium on 7th hit from elbow after 10 hits from wrist) at bottom of rain crust about 28cm down (rain crust was about 8cm thick here), all sudden planar (failures broke at once or "popped", and the shear between layers was clean). ECT (extended column test) showed collapse but no propagation. Results were repeatable in that pit. Supportive wind slab that I was "punching through" was in all wind-exposed areas at treeline, and reacted repeatedly in hand shear tests.

 

[neilsleder]

It's threads like this and the videos that Curtis does that is going to make Valemount the #1 sledding place in BC! Keep up the good work!


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[Dooitorbust]

Subscribed. Great idea, great thread.

 

[Lightningmike]

Subscribed. Great idea, great thread.

Ditto


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[Valemount Skier]

Taken from a posting by polarman on Wednesday November 26 2:35am

There were 5 of us at Allen Creek in total yesterday (Tuesday November 25). Made it to the back side with Sask Summit, but there is a couple of things everyone should know. snowpack has a hard crust about 18 inches down and appears to be a rain crust hoar frost mix. I am going to advise everyone to take extreme caution this next while, there was some natural slide activity on north facing slopes, and the snow was cracking on pretty much any north face. There could be some big events triggered over the next while. In reality it's like being out the first week of November on a normal year.

 

[Depsnolvr]

14/11/26 Chappell Creek

Our alpine travel and obs have been very limited due to the weather not allowing for travel or visibility

Very warm in the valley bottom – 1 at 1000hrs. At 1230hrs 1950m we were sitting at 6 below in the alpine with no wind, very overcast, snowing s-1, HS130cm average in sheltered areas. PF65cm

Upper snowpack was nice new snow F for 50cm turning to 4f until the beginning of the crust **** sandwich that seems to be widespread

Quick test profile on a 20degree slope. There were shears in the upper 30cm from the storm snow on compression test but no slab to speak of. I was getting Moderate SP CT results BELOW the upper crust and this was repeatable and also producing easy to moderate results on a shovel shear.

I have heard of some activity on NE slopes that observers said are failing on this crust interface but I have not been able to get far enough in the backcountry to see anything for myself and I don’t think I will be for a while now.


Last night the Valemount town site received 30cm on the Valley bottom another 30 has fallen during the day today

Ride Safe

 

[marshalldemp]

14/12/01 Clemina

First trip of the year for us in the Valemount area. Trail was in way better shape than we were expecting (upwards of 3 feet from the lot). Stopped by the new cabin. looks great love the location and the hard work that has gone into the build is very apparent. Just wanted to say nice work!!

Back to the point... Through our travel up to goat ridge we were able to observe a few things before even putting a shovel in the snow. Over the last four days a large natural cycle had taken place. One could suspect do to the gross overloading of the weak, rotten, crust layden snow pack. Most of the slides seemed to be mid storm releases with a few stand out latter or closer to the end of the storm. Hard to tell the bed surface but again my guess is that the crust/Facet combo that has been talked about above is the culprit.

Moving up through tree line elevation we dug a quick test profile @ 2100m, SE face on a 20 degree slope. Compression test found CTM 13-16 (SC) dwn 40cm just below the upper crust interface. As well as CTH 21(RP) dwn 65cm on a Fc/SH interface how ever we were unable to repeat this. We found an average HS of 115. When stepping off the sled we observed large whoomphs and shooting cracks about 5 m from boots near the pit location ( not a great feeling)

We stopped for lunch near ridge crest and had the pleasure of watching another group complete some very aggressive slope testing on the E-NE aspects with in goat ridge. None of the group appeared to have any avy gear and clearly didn't have any knowledge as to what the conditions at the time were doing. The hope I guess is to continue to put the word out and that people will buy in!

Thanks Curtis for all your updates and your hard work. Ill try my best to keep up with the observations through the winter

 

[Depsnolvr]

Awesome post marshall thanks a lot.

 

[Valemount Skier]

Observations Friday December 5 and Sunday December 7

On Friday skiing below Allen Creek road about 3/4km before cabin. Dug pit just below the road at about 6250feet on 25 degree SW facing slope. Snow depth about 100cm. Repeatable CTM15 and ECTP19 failures at top of raincrust about 35cm from ground. Some whoomphing in shallow areas with lots of "weeds" sticking out at lowest elevations that I skied down to (about 5200 feet I would guess).

On Sunday was on east side of Kinbasket Lake. Only about 45cm at 4800 feet where left sled. At top of logging block at 5800 feet about 60cm, hand shear failed pretty easily on facets about 10cm from ground. Pit at about 6700 feet on 25 degree SW facing slope. Snow depth about 120cm. CTM17 and ECTP23 failures at top of raincrust about 45cm from ground. Snow below raincrust seemed to be stronger than in other locations where I have dug pits.

 

[CUSO]

Ok this is all fine,but could someone explain in layman's terms what:

CTM11, 15, CTE3 CTH..etc means?

Perhaps a glossary should be posted at the beginning of this thread would explain what all this means.

I just saw bcskier2 has explained in one post, but that post will be lost in the shuffle all too soon.

 

[lilduke]

Compression test Moderate, 11 taps
Compression test easy 3 taps
Compression test hard ext....

If a guy doesnt learn a few things about different tests first, most this info is useless.

 

[Dannyturbo]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...CTE CTM & CTH would be compression test easy, compression test moderate and compression test hard, and the number would be at which hit the Column failed, CTN would be compression test no result


Sent from my iPhone while drinkin a bud light

 

[lilduke]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...CTE CTM & CTH would be compression test easy, compression test moderate and compression test hard, and the number would be at which hit the Column failed, CTN would be compression test no result


Sent from my iPhone while drinkin a bud light

Correct

 

[CUSO]

Thanks, I figured that out pretty quick.. When this thread is 10 pages long people will start asking again or lose interest...

Heck, some say they don't even dig pits ever...


.

Compression test Moderate, 11 taps
Compression test easy 3 taps
Compression test hard ext....

If a guy doesnt learn a few things about different tests first, most this info is useless.

 

[lilduke]

Thanks, I figured that out pretty quick.. When this thread is 10 pages long people will start asking again or lose interest...

Heck, some say they don't even dig pits ever...


.

No problem. Most people dont dig pits. I rarely do. I talk to the guys with the heli ski places, eagles pass ext to find out info most the time
on the area. I also spend alot of the time on the mountain. I plan on digging more pits this season though

 

[Depsnolvr]

Thanks, I figured that out pretty quick.. When this thread is 10 pages long people will start asking again or lose interest...

Heck, some say they don't even dig pits ever...


.

Thats fine this sled for avalanche obs and info. Anything i read so far is taught in any Ast course.

This is not just about pits. Winds, precip type/amounts and avalanche observations are all very relevant and important as well.

 

[Depsnolvr]

Clemina creek. South aspect looking over the Dixon glacier at 2000m. AT +O.5degrees

150cm HS 35cm PF

Upper 30cm of snow consists of a few very thin crusts and some new snow. The lower boundary of this layer and the slab below produced repeatable moderate results on CT. No results on ECT. Lower crust exists but not respinsive in this location.

No avalanche activity seen although travel was very limited. Winds gusting to very strong have moved a lot of snow around.

Sled safe