dalius Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 from the Seattle PI... Stay out of the backcountry! LINK Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Avalanches close Trans-Canada Highway THE ASSOCIATED PRESS REVELSTOKE, B.C. -- An avalanche has closed the Trans-Canada Highway east of this southcentral British Columbia town for the second time in as many days. The British Columbia Highways Ministry said the slide was so big that the principal east-west route through the mountains could remain closed for as long as days. The second avalanche, about 30 miles east of Revelstoke, rumbled down a mountainside just after dawn Tuesday, burying two semitrailer trucks. The vehicles were damaged but the drivers escaped without injury. Highways officials estimated it would take as long as 48 hours to clear the road but hoped to reopen it to some traffic within a day. Avalanche crews will check for trouble spots before the highway will be reopened, officials said. Long detours were required to get around the slide - Highway 3 through Fernie and Crowsnest Pass to the south or Highway 16, the northern Yellowhead Highway, through Jasper, Alberta. An avalanche closed the Trans-Canada in the same area for about 10 hours Monday. Evan Manners, an official at the Canadian Avalanche Center in Revelstoke said the slopes have been especially unstable because of mild, wet weather recently. "This system is pumping moisture right out of the central Pacific and we're seeing temperatures even in the alpine (areas) approaching (the freezing level)," Manners said. "Definitely this rapid warming has triggered a fairly serious avalanche cycle." Sixteen people have died in avalanches in the province this winter, including 14 in the Revelstoke region. Seven teenagers from Calgary died in Glacier Park on Feb. 1, and seven skiers and snowboarders were killed in the back country north of Revelstoke on Jan. 20. Six to 10 inches of snow fell on the Revelstoke-Glacier National Park area Tuesday. "In the last two days we've gone from -20 to zero degrees (-4 degrees to 32 degrees Fahrenheit) in the alpine, so that snow has started to warm up and settle into a bit of a slab, become cohesive," Manners said. "Now we're adding more weight on to it in the form of either rain or heavy snow. "So we've got rapid warming, which is an avalanche trigger, and we've got heavy snow and rain, which is another well-known trigger. Those two things are combining to produce avalanches in this storm snow, at the surface." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 48 hour closure...that'll cost millions. So rare to see that in an area so dialed-in to slide mitigation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 imagine being in the semi. those things don't have built in pieps y'know!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mer Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 I caught this on the news last night, the trucks weren't caught in the slide. It was already across the road and they drove into it. Looks like it was just east of the last tunnel in Glacier NP. Low cloud is preventing the helicopters from getting in to do controlled releases and the highways crews can't start cleaning until it's a bit safer. And it continues to rain here, ho hum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 let's hope this is enough of an avalanche cycle to get rid of the deeper unstabilities in the snowpack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 iain said: 48 hour closure...that'll cost millions. So rare to see that in an area so dialed-in to slide mitigation. I spent a day and a half in wenatchee a few years ago when snocrummie and stevens were both closed for nearly 48 horus. I imagine snocrummie getting closed costs a shitload because Seattle/Tacoma is a huge port, and I-90 is the largest highway, by far, heading back east. Of course, I think white pass opened much quicker than the other two, but I decided missing a day of work being stranded in wenatchee was better than driving around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyleg66 Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 (edited) Over 100cm of snow in 48hrs! I'm driving through there on Saturday to Golden, I think I'll bring my Transciever just in case! Edited March 12, 2003 by jimmyleg66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 bring side-impact airbags! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 coquihalla got 156 cm of new fri aft - sun eve and i bet 140 cm of that has melted by now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 100-year flood? what's the stage on the frazier doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 "Fraser" note spelling, is pretty low. Most of its drainage area is still snowing right now eh. It is a much bigger river than the Columbia, and drains more northerly latitudes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Dru said: "Fraser" note spelling, is pretty low. Most of its drainage area is still snowing right now eh. It is a much bigger river than the Columbia, and drains more northerly latitudes. true, though being very large it also drains plenty of mid-elevation terrain that is now above freezing. Is the flow controlled anywhere? in the meantime on the nooksack: http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nws/hh/basins/cgi-bin/data.pl?nok+nfnw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I didn't think the fraser was *that* much bigger? I know the columbia is longer, but I can believe the fraser has more flow as it's drainage is not only more northern, but isn't it more westerly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 fraser will never peak before mid may at earliest. usually start of june. this rain right now is diminishing the spring flood threat by moving water now instead of later. a heat wave in the first week of june, after a cloudy, cool spring is the prime flood condition. the only dam or control on the whole fraser system, is the nechako diversion to ootsa lake. which is on a tributary, not the main river, if you dont know your bc geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I didn't think the fraser was *that* much bigger? it is (twice as big I think) if you don't include the columbia below the border fraser will never peak before mid may at earliest interesting, I thought that rain on snow was the cause of biggest flows like in western washington. I understand your point about different climatic province now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 j_b said: it is (twice as big I think) if you don't include the columbia below the border Something tells me that the river doesn't care much about the border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 jb- I could be wrong, but I think the flooding associated with rain on snow that you are thinking of may be that which frequently occurs in the fall, when heavy rains fall on unconsolidated and relatively shallow snow that immediately melts away and adds to the runoff, rather than acting to some degree like a sponge, as the snowpack will at this time of year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 rain on snow never happens over the whole of the fraser basin at once, so the increases in flow dont peak at the same time, leading to no flood. but the whole basin warms up in the spring causing spring freshet rain on snow is most important in basins about the size of the squamish or chilliwack rivers (~100km square order of mag.), and in drainages with lots of area between 300m-800m elevation. above 800m its stays snowy or melts slowly, below 300m its rain but hey why talk work?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I believe you are right Matt the major rain on snow events occur in late fall; however, after an extended period of warm rainy weather, the snowpack is isothermal (which it is often to start with at mid-elevation) and saturated which would prevent its acting as a sponge? but hey why talk work?? that's not work, that's fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_a Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 ...And here I am getting ready to go to the Fairy Meadows Hut in the Selkirks for a week starting next Saturday...hope to hell things stabilize and get nice before then, otherwise I'm going to run out of books and booze in the hut before the trip is over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Pete- You may already know this, but that is one of the better huts to be stuck in, should you find the snow conditions to be unfriendly. Also, there is good tree skiing nearby, so you ought to be able to at least do SOMETHING (though I was once there for a week when it snowed over a foot every day and there was one day where it wasn't even safe to go out to the water hole). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 pete_a said: ...And here I am getting ready to go to the Fairy Meadows Hut in the Selkirks for a week starting next Saturday...hope to hell things stabilize and get nice before then, otherwise I'm going to run out of books and booze in the hut before the trip is over. take LOTS of books and booze then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 meanwhile back on the highways topic: Thurs March 13 Avalanche danger closing more roads VANCOUVER (CBC) - The weather is wreaking havoc on travel in the mountains of southeastern B.C. because of avalanches and threat of more slides. The Trans-Canada Highway remains closed by avalanches at two spots – 50 kilometres east of Revelstoke and between Golden and Lake Louise. Highway 93 to Radium Hot Springs is also closed because of the extreme avalanche hazard, as are Highways 31 through Galena Pass and Highway 23 north of Revelstoke as well as Toby Creek Road at Invermere. Meanwhile, Highway 3 through the Kootenay Pass has been re-opened after an eight-hour closure. Two separate avalanches near Revelstoke claimed the lives of 14 skiers in late January and early February. good luck getting ANYWHERE from Golden right now!! youre trapped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyleg66 Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 Whatever Dru! I wish I WAS in Golden right now. #1 90cm of snow in 5 days #2 High speed gondola #3 4000' vertical #4 AND EVERYROAD IN AND OUT OF TOWN IS CLOSED SO YOU HAVE THE FREEKIN HILL TO YOURSELF! Where's a genie in a bottle when you need one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 what happens when the food runs out and you are trapped in town with a bunch of pot smokers with the munchies it'd look like night of the living dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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