Knowing where you stand...

ScottG — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:08:19 GMT

Here are a couple of photos of the cornices along the ridge from Zymacord col towards Hidden Lake (ie Zymbuktu to Zymbuk-three) taken from the Zymacord trees on Monday. Very large this winter!

In the second photo you can see the person standing on the cornice (black dot in the circle). The person that took this photo was quite shocked to see this person wander towards the edge several times. You likely would not survive the fall in this location if you triggered the cornice.

As the avalanche bulletin states, give these things a wide berth. They don't necessarily fail at the ridge crest, but often suck back into surprisingly mellow terrain. I've seen quite a few up-tracks wandering very close to the edge of cornices around Shames lately.

Something to be very aware of when choosing your route.

Skeena/Babine

Knowing where you stand...