Remote-trigger Avalanches

Submitted by
keith
Observations date
Thursday, December 29, 2022 at 20:00
Location
49.763020° N 117.175140° W
Reporting on
  • Snow conditions
Map for Mountain Information Network report: Remote-trigger Avalanches

Snow conditions

Riding quality was:
Good
Snow conditions were:
  • Powder
We rode:
  • Mellow slopes
  • Open trees
We stayed away from:
  • Alpine slopes
  • Convex slopes
  • Cut blocks
  • Steep slopes

Information

The day was:
  • Cloudy
Avalanche conditions
  • Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
  • 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
  • Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Comments

Submission by the Kokanee Cabin Custodian. I have been very impressed with this self-guided group and their terrain selection this past week. They have been very disciplined by sticking to terrain under 30 degrees and avoiding overhead exposure. Although avalanches have been remotely triggered (50-250m away) almost every day, there have been no involvements. If interested, I also uploaded a video to the Kootenay Avalanche Courses YouTube Channel, further describing yesterday's large avalanches: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMfxxWAPxAO0YNzwmS1SmA
A separate Size 2.5 avalanche, remote-triggered from 150m.
Left side of Smuggler's Bowl, size 3.0, remote-triggered by a group skinning on the other side of the ridge in a different drainage, 250m away.
40m wide strip of terrain that did not avalanche. Size 3.0 to the left and Size 3.0 to the right both went sympathetically from the remote-trigger, 250m away.
Far right side of the Smuggler's Bowl area. Combined propagation width was about 800m from one end of the crown to the other.