BRRRRRR too cold for solo touring….
Avalanchewgregg · Dec 28, 2021 · Quesnel
Quick report
- Weather
- sunny, cold
- Ride Type
- steepSlopes, openTrees, alpineSlopes, denseTrees
- Stayed Away
- convexSlopes
- Riding Quality
- amazing
- Snow Conditions
- deepPowder
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound, avalancheConditionSnow
Had grand plans for the day at 0800, then while enjoying the beautiful brisk morning (-27) my feet slowly began to freeze. Plans foiled by the time I reached the alpine ridge. Made the call to ski out to avoid frostbite on the little piggies. In the alpine where windslabs developed there were shooting cracks and hollow sounding pockets. It was very evident that there was reverse loading as all aspects looked fat. Seemingly North aspects were a little more wind pressed than west facing slopes. The ski quality was amazing; unfortunately the cold was debilitating. In the AM of Dec 29 at 0300 the outside temp hit -35 @ 1130m. A very small amount of surface hoar developed along with a light skiff. T10 remained in the mid negative teens (-16 avg). 5cm of snow fell during the evening of the 29th with a nighttime high of -28.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -27
- Max Temp
- -23
- Min Temp
- -32
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedCalm
- Blowing Snow
- none
- Sky Condition
- fewClouds
- New Snow24 Hours
- 20
- Storm Start Date
- 2021-12-27T00:40:00.000Z
- Storm Snow Amount
- 40
- Temperature Trend
- steady
- Precipitation Type
- none
Had all kinds of plans…but the -27 put a quick stop to that. Two dead boot heater batteries = frozen feet. Beautiful day with beautiful views.
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 50
- Slab Width
- 20
- Trigger Type
- natural
- Wind Exposure
- leeSlope
- Avalanche Size
- 2
- Slab Thickness
- 20
- Start Zone Aspect
- N
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Start Zone Incline
- 35
- Avalanche Character
- stormSlab
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Start Zone Elevation
- 1900
- Runout Zone Elevation
- 1700
- Weak Layer Burial Date
- 2021-12-27T00:44:00.000Z
- Avalanche Observation
- 12to24hrsAgo
- Weak Layer Crystal Type
- stormSnow
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- tln
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2021-12-28T16:43:00
There were multiple Naturals on north facing aspects mainly on terrain 35 deg or steeper. All started high in the start zone, likely from small cornice falls loose slab running full path. Sluff moved fast on ski cuts, but couldn’t stay out long enough to investigate due to the extreme cold.