Big Cornices

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Mellow slopes
• Sunny slopes

The day was:

• Warm

Just wanted to give people a heads up about cornices. We've been up on some ridges in Kootenay Park over the past month and had 2 cornices break off unexpectedly while walking near ridgetop.

The most recent was a very close call. We had been walking along a ridge well away from the "edge," we figure around 5m away. The cornice cracked from end to end on a mini bowl, the fracture line was right between my legs, I was close to the middle of the mini bowl, another member of our party was at the end behind me.

We were lucky enough, and had a quick enough reaction to jump to safety. The cornice was massive! Bus sized! It triggered the slope below, which went pretty close to full path. The terrain below was very serious and a fall there would have been complicated.

Just a warning that cornices are getting big and may be ready to fall, keep an eye above you and give them wider berth than you think you need. If you're travelling below one, they have the mass to trigger deep layers and go big.