Cayoosh Creek

Quick report

Justin Partridge · Dec 18, 2024 · Cariboos

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3Observation photo 4Observation photo 5Observation photo 6

Quick report

Weather
sunny, windy
Stayed Away
alpineSlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes
Riding Quality
good
Snow Conditions
deepPowder, powder, windAffected
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSound

Exploratory day in Cayoosh Creek. There was about 25cm of low-density snow from the road up to the first boulder field where it got much deeper from wind depositing snow from up the valley. The winds were ripping on the ridges and down Cayoosh Creek from the basin. We found very reactive wind slabs forming just below the lake and observed enough crowns on higher slopes to call it there. Slabs around the lake were about 40cm thick and cracks propagated about 5m as we skinned along past the boulders. Hand sheers produced easy results on thick slabs that ran planar on light snow above a crust below. We saw many crowns on the steeper slopes above the lake and across the basin (see pictures 1,2,3). We could also see a massive crown on one of the surrounding sub-peaks of Cayoosh (see picture 4). Look just below the rock band in the center frame.

Avalanche

Avalanche Size
3
Avalanche Character
stormSlab, windSlab
Crust Near Weak Layer
1
Number Of Avalanches
2-5
Avalanche Observation
12hrsAgo
Start Zone Elevation Band
alp, tln
Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
2024-12-17T08:01:00.000Z

We saw many crowns on the steeper slopes above the lake and across the basin (see pictures 1,2,3). We could also see a massive crown on one of the surrounding sub-peaks of Cayoosh (see picture 4). Look just below the rock band in the center frame. I estimated size 3 given how far away we were and how big it still looked.