Anyone ski anything last weekend? Several close calls: one full burial and almost fatality on Brohm, two close ones in the Duffey.

http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/...-database/view

That Brohm one is crazy - buried 1.8 m deep, dug out by his friend - unconscious and not breathing but then resuscitated... haven't seen any updates - hope he's ok.

-Ryan

The groomers on Blackcomb were fun. First day back since spraining my MCL in late December.

Skied backcountry three days. In the Whistler/Callaghan area there was lots of moving and a big cycle on Sunday night. Still there was lots of lower angle terrain for moving between skiable areas. The biggest issue was the buried 130220 surface hoar layer. We ducked into tight trees for steeper turns, in areas where the surface hoar had not formed.

The Duffey seems to have been touchier, as would the warmer south.

Lower angle trees on the Coquihalla skied nicely too. But we tried to avoid steeper sections, rolls, traps etc

More info here:
http://blogs.avalanche.ca/forecaster

... and it's not ending as of the 24th either - bunch of new reports being listed on avalanche.ca, including Mariott:
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/...b-0359967ddc01

Also, an interesting comment I've come across elsewhere (I think in reference to the recent Revelstoke avalanche death):

Similar to PFDs and how people refuse to put on the crotch strap. And they wonder why the PFD rides over the top of their head. You might as well not wear one if you do that.

While it is difficult to pick out avies in this photo (I'm not certain I can pick out one size two), the slope is slightly above the Wendy Thompson Hut and is generally crossloaded by incoming storms. The start zones near the convex rolls and beneath the cliffs are in the 40 degree range. These slopes have enough southern aspect to have buried suncrusts at this time of year as well.

Snow was generally well-behaved at Frosty Mountain in Manning Park. A large ski party had skied some of the steeper open areas in the lower trail on Saturday. There were no releases. On our approach to the north face we did not experience any whumpfing or settlement and there was no evidence of any recent activity. Nicolas did several hasty snow tests on the way up and there was some concern with the new snow (about 20 cm in depth). However, when we got onto the north face and dug a pit about 2/3 of the way up we actually found good bonding between the new and old snow. The snow column eventually collapsed by disintegrating rather than detaching as a block. We did not throw caution to the wind though. We decided our high point was to be about 30 to 50 metres below the summit and before the face steepens. We were concerned about getting onto a slope with bigger fetch and more loading. We triggered nothing of concern on the descent down Frosty Creek through four pitches of terrain up to 35 degrees. We did cross one older release below the third pitch which was well covered by new snow so it must have occured Friday or earlier. I've found over the years that the South Coast Inland avalanche forecasts do not correspond well with the actual conditions in Manning Park in the vicinity of Gibsons Pass. The forecast does apply better to the Coquihalla and Duffey areas and I think they nailed the danger rating very accurately for those two areas based on reports from the field. Manning is a bit of a dark zone in terms of field experience and reports. It may be better to use the Northwest Avalanche forecast using Harts Pass as a guideline.

I played it safe and practiced ski jumping in the safety of my home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=GdHU1h08q6Q