cerise cr.

Avalanche

JohnnyRo · Dec 4, 2016 · Duffey

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Quick report

Weather
stormy, cloudy, windy
Ride Type
openTrees, mellowSlopes
Stayed Away
convexSlopes, steepSlopes, alpineSlopes
Riding Quality
good
Snow Conditions
powder, windAffected
Avalanche Conditions
avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSound

skied NW facing open trees off Vantage Pk, NE facing open trees off Matier E ridge and E facing trees above Keith's hut. While skiing NW aspect below Vantage, ski cutting @1760m on an open slope with an obvious convexity, propagated a 30cm deep, 20m wide storm slab that ran about 30m over the open terrain, and 5-10m into the trees below the slope. Start zone below the convexity was about 40 degrees. Failure plain was SH burried earlier in the week. Slope was fairly sheltered and in the lee. Other, more wind affected slopes we skied, skied well with no results via ski cutting. I would expect burried SH in areas that are well sheltered from the past week's winds (SSW-SE) at similar elevations in the area.

Weather

Avg Temp
-5
Max Temp
-2
Min Temp
-5
Wind Speed
windSpeedModerate
Blowing Snow
moderate
Sky Condition
brokenClouds
Snowfall Rate
2
Wind Direction
SE
New Snow24 Hours
15
Storm Snow Amount
20
Temperature Trend
steady
Precipitation Type
snow

Broken CU in the early am. transitioned to snowy skies for the rest of the day. Winds: S-SE, 20 gusting to 50 km/h

Avalanche

Run Length
30
Slab Width
20
Trigger Type
skier
Wind Exposure
leeSlope
Avalanche Size
2
Slab Thickness
30
Trigger Sub Type
intentional
Start Zone Aspect
NW
Vegetation Cover
sparseTrees
Start Zone Incline
40
Avalanche Character
stormSlab
Number Of Avalanches
1
Start Zone Elevation
1760
Weak Layer Burial Date
2016-11-30T20:00:00.000Z
Weak Layer Crystal Type
surfaceHoar
Start Zone Elevation Band
tln
Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
2016-12-03T11:00:00

ski cutting above a convexity propagated a 20m wide storm slab, failing on SH burried earlier in the week. Crown was about 15 cm on outside edges and 30cm in the middle. debris ran about 20-30m over open terrain and 5-10m into timber below the open slope. Location: NW facing open trees on Vantage Pk. @ 1760m Slope was lee and sheltered from S wind that usually blows through the vantage/matier col. adgacent/near-by slopes which were more wind affected/less sheltered, did not show the same results and skied well.