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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

[MCR] Coast Range - Tantalus/Clowhom

Did a short flight over the Tantalus and into the Clowhom valley this afternoon.

 

As reported by others recently, conditions still appear quite wintry, especially above 1200m. Trees on south aspects (down to 1500m) still covered in snow at 3 PM. The snow looked to have some wind effect where exposed, but suspect there is some nice snowsport activity to be had in more sheltered terrain. Of particular note was the isolated and sporadic nature of recent avalanche occurrences – I kind of expected to see more natural results. This is likely a result of the inconsistent precip amounts from area to area in the Easter weekend storm. (from 30mm to 80mm depending on where you were measuring in the Sea to Sky area)

 

A few slides (Size 2-3) looked to be 24-48 hours old, but many were from before Easter.  The avalanches that did run more recently appeared to be running far due to avalanche tracks well filled in. There were no deep slabs observed, but suspect the early season deep weakness could still produce large results with either a large trigger in the right spot, or by stepping down from a smaller avalanche.

 

I am really wondering what will happen when we get the first real blast of summer heat!

 

Brian Gould

 

Near Clowhom Lk_lowrez.jpg

Avalanche near Clowhom Lake

 

Alpha_lowrez.jpg

Alpha

 

Serratus_lowrez.jpg

Serratus

 

tantalus_lowrez.jpg

Tantalus

 

 

 

Brian Gould

bgould@avalancheservices.ca