Avalanche on N Sister

[sweatinoutliquor]

Careful out there everyone. Just cause it's late season and nice doesn't mean that it can't still be nasty!

News Report

[robert]

I hope that this quote

"To be on a mountain in spring, that's pretty iffy," Fristad said.

was taken out of context. While there was a significant danger last weekend advising against climbing in spring seems a bit strong. I wonder what she would say about climbing in the winter.

 

Never the less, be careful out there.

[iain]

There's always that sketchy period in OR springtime where the temps heat up but the upper headwalls of the volcanoes still hold the snowpack, then they all wake up and can go big! Even a small slough would be enough to make for an ugly ride with the cinders/rocks intermixed.

 

A few of the classics:

Thayer HW, North Sister

E Morning Couloir, North Sister

Milk Creek Gully, Mt. Jefferson

WC Rim, Mt. Hood

WyEast, Mt. Hood

 

These folks were on Thayer HW. Fortunately, they were not totally buried. Hard to get up that thing w/o encountering some soft snow, as it gets early sun. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

[Gaper_Jeffy]

That's a good list, Iain. We had low to moderate scores on shovel compression tests done at the top of Heather canyon @6900ft on Saturday. One test failed on 12 (10 from wrist, 2 from elbow) another on 14. There were seveal different layers sliding

 

In less wind-affected areas we had higher scores. Lets hope everything bakes down quickly!

[iain]

Yeah we were getting some pretty low SC scores on a E pit up near the hogsback, with some quality shears. Some of the minor slides were stepping down on those layers you outline. Still quite skiable though. This heat should take care of matters! The newer snow up high is already quite heavy to ski, but we were getting boot penetration. Still fun to be skiing three-dimensionally in May though, even if it is a lot of jump turning.