- Submitted by
- jcoulter
- Observations date
- Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 21:00
- Location
- 49.827550° N 114.747330° W
- Reporting on
- Snow conditions
/-114.74733,49.82755,8,0,0/1026x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiYXZhbGFuY2hlY2FuYWRhIiwiYSI6ImNqd2dvZmUxdzE4ZWg0M2tkaXpuNG95aTQifQ.pBLM87fE3sIxRJqJT7Bf7g "Tipping Point!!")
Quick
Avalanche
Snowpack
Weather
Incident
Snow conditions
- Snow conditions were:
- Powder
- We stayed away from:
- Alpine slopes
- Convex slopes
- Cut blocks
- Open trees
- Steep slopes
- Sunny slopes
Information
- The day was:
- Stormy
- Avalanche conditions
- Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
- Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.
- Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.
Comments
Natural and human triggered avalanches in the #southrockies today!
Though we couldn’t see into the alpine because of the storm, we could hear naturals off of nearby headwalls. Below treeline, cut banks were hair trigger. We were remote triggering small avalanches from our sled that were propagating across entire terrain features. The entire snowpack (80cm-100cm) was releasing to ground (facets over a crust). With that evidence, and bigger terrain ahead with more consequences if it avalanched, we decided to turn around and go home!!!
We also got a photo from an observer north of Elkford. There had been some clearing, and there was widespread natural activity in alpine bowls there as well.
