Cameron Lake
Avalanchebradhurkett · Dec 23, 2020 · Waterton Lakes
Quick report
- Weather
- windy, warm, cloudy
- Ride Type
- mellowSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees
- Stayed Away
- convexSlopes, alpineSlopes, steepSlopes
- Riding Quality
- ok
- Snow Conditions
- heavy, hard, windAffected
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSlab
Marginal ski conditions on wind/storm slab at treeline and below treeline, We did not venture into alpine terrain.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -6
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedStrong
- Blowing Snow
- moderate
- Sky Condition
- scatteredClouds
- Wind Direction
- W
- Temperature Trend
- steady
- Precipitation Type
- none
Strong westerly winds for the entire day.
Snowpack
- Depth
- 165
- Obs Type
- point
- Site Aspect
- E
- Site Elevation
- 2000
- Ski Penetration
- 10
- Test Initiation
- none
- Foot Penetration
- 25
- Site Elevation Band
- btl
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow, variable
Observed December 9 crust below 1,850 m covered with 20 - 40 cm storm/wind slab on top. Wind slab was prolific on east facing slopes below and at treeline, and in the alpine - alpine slopes were moderately wind scoured with loaded pockets. Leeward slopes (alpine and treeline) were loading all day from strong westerly winds and reverse loading from the last storm was also observed at treelines and in gullies. Ridge top snow consisted of a stiff wind slab with up to 10 cm ski penetration. We noticed a substantial change in the snowpack at 2,000 m as the wind/storm slab softened, ski penetration increased, snow became heavy and wet causing enough concern to test the snowpack: East slope (below treeline) 33 deg ECT NR CTM16 SP down 40 cm on graupel between wind slabs (one test only)
Avalanche
- Trigger Type
- natural
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Avalanche Observation
- 24to48hrsAgo
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- alp
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2020-12-23T10:17:00