lodge. In the evening, they dropped back to -1 degree and strong NW
winds sprang up. It snowed all day. We found about 40 cm of new snow in
the alpine and 5 mm of water equivalent at the lodge level. The freezing
level was at about 1300 m.
Many small and medium sized avalanches ran naturally during the hottest
part of the day. They were confined to the top layers of the snowpack,
but ran far, if slowly. They all started below 1400 m. Yesterday I cut a
size 1.5 on a steep forest glade at 1400 m and was carried about 20 m by
it. Today, I cut more size 1.5s in steep terrain below 1300m. We also
felt two whumpfs.
There seems to be a big divide at the freezing level: above it, the new
snow is stiff and cohesive and settles fast. Below it, the new snow is
less cohesive, but it does propagate and run easily. With the current
amount of new snow, I am concerned about larger natural avalanches
releasing, but we saw little evidence of that today. The visibility was
limited.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger
IFMGA/ UIAGM Mountain Guide - Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada
tel. 250-847-3351/ fax 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca
_______________________________________________
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