Schooled in the Kindergarten couloir!
Quick reportCraig McGee · Jan 8, 2024 · Lake Louise
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy
- Ride Type
- steepSlopes
- Riding Quality
- good
- Snow Conditions
- hard, powder
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSlab
Weather
- Max Temp
- -35
- Min Temp
- -20
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedLight
- Blowing Snow
- light
- Sky Condition
- scatteredClouds
- Wind Direction
- SW
- New Snow24 Hours
- 5
- Temperature Trend
- rising
- Precipitation Type
- none
Wind was picking up
Snowpack
- Obs Type
- point
- Site Aspect
- N
- Site Elevation
- 2400
- Ski Penetration
- 0
- Test Failure Layer Crystal Types
- facets
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 1
- Slab Width
- 1
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- downFlow
- Avalanche Size
- 1.5
- Trigger Sub Type
- accidental
- Start Zone Aspect
- N
- Start Zone Incline
- 20
- Avalanche Character
- persistentSlab
- Crust Near Weak Layer
- 1
- Number Of Avalanches
- 1
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2400
- Runout Zone Elevation
- 2275
- Avalanche Observation
- 12hrsAgo
- Weak Layer Crystal Type
- facets
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- alp
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2024-01-09T03:31:00.000Z
40-50cm deep and 15-20m wide, steep convex feature. Believe it was a soft slab on facets over the December crust.
Incident
- Group Size
- 3
- Group Activity
- skiing
- Number Involved
- 1
- Number Caught Only
- 1
- Snow Depth Trigger Point
- deep
- Terrain Shape Trigger Point
- convex
Decided to check out the Kindergarten couloir, as many people had been referencing that it had seen quite a bit of skier traffic and had a lot of avalanche debris in it. Usually, with this type of snowpack and early-season conditions, I would have kept it pretty simple, but my FOMO (fear of missing out) got the better of me. Upon arrival, the presence of significant sloughing and avalanche debris alleviated much of the uncertainty surrounding avalanches. Instead, the main concern became cornices (much, much smaller than usual) and sloughing from the sidewalls. On the way up, travel was on soft avalanche debris, which made the travel pretty arduous. I consciously avoided sidewall pockets untouched by sloughing, and opted to turn back approximately 100m from the summit as the avalanche debris diminished. The increasing wind and the perceived risk associated with relatively small cornices reinforced the decision. Regrettably, during the descent, I succumbed to the temptation of making turns on one of the sidewall ribs I had bypassed on the ascent due to a lack of traffic or debris effect. This relatively small pocket popped, creating an avalanche roughly 40-50cm? deep and 15-20m wide? (approximations, as I didn't crawl back up to investigate!), resulting in a 125m (vertical) ride. The distinctive "BANG" upon the slab release led me to believe it was a soft slab on facets over the December crust. This event was a good reminder (Kindergarten schooling!!) that even though we all desire to "get after it" and try to convince ourselves that we can "outthink" an early-season Rockies snowpack, it's still an early-season Rockies snowpack that should be respected and treated with a conservative mindset. Also, the terrain associated with this avalanche definitely reminds me of many sidewalls and pockets on many of the ice climbs in the Rockies.