Blue Skies for a White Queen summit
Snowpackangelakbeaton · Mar 15, 2020 · Ymir
Quick report
- Weather
- sunny, cold
- Stayed Away
- openTrees
- Snow Conditions
- windAffected
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSound
A group of us spent the day in the Whitewater backcountry on White Queen. We summited the mountain avoiding avalanche terrain due to the three avalanche problems that AvalancheCanada had posted: (1) wind slab in all N-W-S-SE slopes, chances of size 1-2 were possible in the Alpine &Treeline, (2) persistent slabs was possible in all elevations and all slopes with a size 2, (3) wet loose was possible in SW-S-SE slopes and in all elevations with a size 1-2. During our ascent we did experience whumpfing along flats of the ridge. Please see the 'Electric Day on North Aspects of Whitequeen' by JoleneRachelle88 posted on March 8th.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -6
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedLight
- Sky Condition
- clear
- Wind Direction
- SE
- New Snow24 Hours
- 0
- Precipitation Type
- none
It was a beautiful blue bird day. Cold morning to start 19 degrees Celsius. Warmed up to -6.3 by the time we did our tests at about 14:30-15:00.
Snowpack
- Obs Type
- summary
- Site Aspect
- NE, N
- Foot Penetration
- 10
- Cracking Observed
- 1
- Site Elevation Band
- tln, btl
- Surface Conditions
- crust, surfaceHoar, facets
- Whumpfing Observed
- 1
We dug snowprofiles on a north facing slope and completed a ECT, a compression test, and a Rutschblock Test. During the ECT we had propagation and a crust/slab slide on tap 11. The first crack occurred approximately 10-20 cm into the snowpack.The Feb 22 weak layer cracked and propagated on tap 21 at 80 cm. During the Compression Test the first crack/slib was on tap 1 at 12 cm. The second crack/propogatiom occurred on tap 14 at 72 cm. This was again the Feb 22 weak layer. The Rutschblock Test was completed on a 38 degree slope. The fist weak layer scored a RB2. the Feb 22 layer also scored a RB2. Both instances the rider had only stepped on the slab before the slabs cracked.