gregm Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 spent the weekend up at cerise creek (joffre lakes area). fabulous deep powder abounded everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyleg66 Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Sweet potato pie! We're heading up to the Wendy Thompson hut in a week and a half. Any snowpack beta you can offer would be appriecated. Did you see any natural avalache activity? Any skier triggered slides? What were the daytime highs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted February 18, 2003 Author Share Posted February 18, 2003 roadside snowpack seemed low for this time of year, but once you get to 5500' everything is deeply covered. i did not see any natural slides or fracture lines. i saw some buried debris in places but i don't know how old it was. it was snowing heavily at the time so i just assumed it was time to stick to safer lines and never dug a pit. somebody else dug a pit and said he saw old crusts with surface hoar on top. i think he said those layers were not shearing cleanly, but i can't elaborate. a backcountry-inexperienced snowboarder in our group set off a small sluff on a steep convexity, but it was nothing more that you'd expect on a day that it was snowing heavily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Two weeks ago near RR pass we saw some big hoar frost crystals in the trees down low. Up higher there was 4 inches of powder on top of a pretty hard layer. At the time we watched snowmobiles highmark on some 30 degree slopes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 South Coast Region WEATHER: After a two day pulse of Pacific moisture, the weather has again settled down and dried out. Since Saturday 30cm of storm snow accumulated in the alpine, although below treeline much of this fell as rain. Winds remained moderate to strong out of the SW. The weather forecast calls for a second system to move onshore by Wednesday, bringing more snow to the alpine and rain to valley bottom. SNOWPACK: The new snow and wind combined to produce a soft slab in the alpine, which has not bonded very well to layers below. At low elevations, rain brought the snowpack to near zero degrees, causing spring like wet, loose avalanche potential. The wind slab in the alpine will take a while to fully stabilize and by then more snow will be coming from Wednesday’s storm. Cornices have been replenished and are ready to drop. AVALANCHES: The storm snow was easily triggered by ski cutting and explosives, failing up to 50cm deep to size 2. Very little natural activity was seen. FORECAST OF AVALANCHE DANGER UP TO WEDNESDAY EVENING (FEB 19) ALPINE - Considerable TREELINE - Considerable BELOW TREELINE - Moderate TRAVEL ADVISORY: Watch for lingering potential for human triggering of the windslab, particularly on north aspects where wind transport has increased the load. Cornice fall is likely this week. Be aware the new snow on Wednesday may produce renewed potential for storm snow failures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 How much snow would you estimate there was at the parking lot, and in the woods nearby? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyleg66 Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Thanks Greg, much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted February 18, 2003 Author Share Posted February 18, 2003 mattp said: How much snow would you estimate there was at the parking lot, and in the woods nearby? 2 or 3 feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted February 19, 2003 Share Posted February 19, 2003 Thanks, Greg. I had feared it might be even worse than that. "Plenty" at treeline must mean twice that or better ??? It sounds like maybe I should head up there soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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