Fryatt Range

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, stormy, sunny

Ride Type

steepSlopes

Stayed Away

convexSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

windAffected

Just returned from 3 days of ski touring/mountaineering out of the Fryatt Hut with Jasper Visitor Safety team. Over the 3 days we received 15cm of new snow that was redistributed in the alpine by moderate westerly winds, creating pockets of wind slab at ridge crest. The new snow was bonding well to the previously wind affected surfaces. The HS at Tree Line and Alpine was highly variable ranging from scoured surfaces to 400cm on the lee aspect. The alpine snowpack consisted of 5-15cm of low density snow over 15-70cm of dense (1F-P) snow, this is sitting on basal facets and depth hoar. Below Tree Line received approximately 4cm of new snow and this was sitting on a supportive melt freeze crust. We witnessed numerous loose dry avalanches in steep alpine features up to Sz 1. There was evidence of a few wet slab avalanches in the BTL elevations from previous warming events. Our main concerns in the snowpack where newly formed wind slab and basal facets in thin to thick areas in the alpine. The Athabasca River was frozen at our crossing location and navigated easily.

Weather

Avg Temp

-7

Wind Speed

windSpeedModerate

Blowing Snow

light

Sky Condition

scatteredClouds

Snowfall Rate

1

Wind Direction

W

New Snow24 Hours

5

Storm Start Date

2022-02-15

Storm Snow Amount

15

Temperature Trend

steady

Precipitation Type

snow

Snowpack

Obs Type

summary

Site Aspect

N, E

Test Fracture

resistant

Ski Penetration

6

Test Initiation

easy

Foot Penetration

20

Test Failure Depth

25

Site Elevation Band

alp, tln

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

facets

Avalanche

Trigger Type

natural

Wind Exposure

leeSlope

Avalanche Size

1

Start Zone Aspect

N, NE, NW

Vegetation Cover

openSlope

Avalanche Character

looseDry

Number Of Avalanches

6-10

Avalanche Observation

12hrsAgo

Weak Layer Crystal Type

stormSnow

Start Zone Elevation Band

alp

Avalanche Occurrence Datetime

2022-02-16T18:31:00.000Z