The TAP ASGE spent the past week ski touring on the Duffy lake road as well as Whistler Blackcomb and Spearhead zones.
Weather summary April 8-14
The week started off with wet weather in the Duffy lake zone with freezing levels remaining steady at 1800m. On the 8th and 9th 15-30mm of precipitation fell as snow above this and mixed precipitation and rain in lower elevations.
On April 10, the group moved to Whistler and found elevated freezing levels and extreme winds from the south gusting up to 180km/h. This dramatically altered the snow conditions and grew large fragile cornices
On the 11th, conditions improved with scattered precipitation, clouds and a freezing level lowering to 1400m before rising again to 2400 by weeks end
Clearing continued with hot sunny days on the 12th- 14th
Over the course of the week, we had approximately 40mm of precipitation.
Snowpack summary
We observed an HS of 330cm+ on Glaciers which tapered rapidly with elevation.
Northerly aspects above 2000m remained dry but by the afternoon, Solar aspects were moist to mountain top in ALP , wet at Tree line and isothermal below 1400m.
Avalanche conditions
The start to middle of the week had a widespread natural cycle due to the extreme wind event. We observed evidence of large natural cornice releases up to size 3, in the alpine with some pulling slabs. Some loose wet avalanches up to size 1.5 were observed Below Treeline
The snowpack transitioned into Spring Diurnal by mid week. We observed a well consolidated snowpack above 1400m with no PWLs and no significant shears or results noted during snowpack observations.
The avalanche risk in the morning was low due to crust formation but with daytime warming and solar input the hazard increased in the PM. We observed some wet loose activity on solar aspects to mountain top and all aspects treeline and below.
Other Hazards
Cornices are large and many are fragile. Daytime heating increases the likelihood of failure.
All but northerly aspects in the alpine had hard surfaces in the morning, creating a sliding hazard, but softened up by mid morning
Below treeline travel was very challenging anywhere off of the established trails in the Duffy lake zone
Submitted on behalf of the TAP ASGE candidates
