Vancouver Island Avalanche Bulletin

Vancouver Island Avalanche Bulletin

PARTY FOR THE BULLETIN! Don’t miss the Vancouver Island Avalanche Bulletin Fund Raising Party 24 January (THAT’S THIS COMING SATURDAY!), 2009 at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland. Two great bands, prizes, silent auction items and beer from our friends at Phillp’s Brewing. If you use the bulletin and would like to support it, come on out and party! Call 250 336 2870 or email info@islandalpineguides.com for more info.

Date Issued: Thursday, January 22, 2009

Valid Until: Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bulletin Area: This bulletin covers the mountainous region of Vancouver Island from the Mt. Cain Ski Area in the North to the Beaufort range to the South including the mountains of Strathcona Provincial Park.

DANGER RATINGS

Weather: Temperatures have remained above freezing at tree line and above for the past days with only the lower elevations seeing freezing temps.

Snowpack: Below tree line and at tree line a well settled snow pack has variable surfaces depending on exposure to sun. In the shade a hard icy surface exists whereas areas seeing sun are getting wet and firming up again at night. Continued warm temperatures In the alpine continue to contribute to settling in the snow pack but a deep instability from early December persists in very specific terrain features. Areas of concern would be on the eastern edge of the island moutains, high in the alpine and in areas of smooth ground cover. As previously reported where exactly this instability will be found is difficult to specify. Digging and probing around will tell you more. If you are travelling in the island mountains and are collecting observations specific to this layer, we would be happy to hear from you.

Travel advisory: With freezing levels dropping, wet snow avalanches will no longer be a concern. What will be of more concern will be steep icy slopes in the trees where a fall could mean a high speed collision with an immovable tree. As advised previously, caution is still advised in the eastern island mountains in the high alpine in areas of smooth ground cover. Where one could start an avalanche on the deeper instability is incerasingly terrain specific with fewer and fewer places offering the right combination of ingredients to start a big slide. But it does remain a possibiity. Avoid cross loaded features. Specific local terrain knowledge and digging and probing to establish the existence or non-existence of the persistent deep weakness in the snow pack is the way to know where the problem exists. If you do not have snow stability evaluation skills to make this kind of analysis, make conservative terrain decisions by staying out of big alpine features. If you are collecting data of any kind, but especially about our presistent deep instabilities please share them with our forecasters.

Avalanche Activity: Wet snow avalanches to size one have been observed.

Outlook: A mixture of sun and cloud and colder air are in the forecast. Temperatures should be below freezing at all elevations for the forecast period with sunshine for Friday and more cloud on Saturday. A vague possibility of flurries exists.

Are you traveling in the island back country?

Send our forecasters your observations. We are particularly interested in hearing if you have observed avalanche activity or If you or a member of your party has been involved in an avalanche. Email your observations to the Island Avalanche Bulletin forecasters at info@islandalpineguides.com

Important Notice: This is a regional forecast and significant variation may exist within the forecast area. The information and danger ratings are intended as a trip planning aid for recreational, backcountry users of avalanche terrain; they are not meant to be used as the sole factor in determining the avalanche danger presented by a specific slope. Always include local weather, snowpack and avalanche observations in your decision to travel in avalanche terrain. Observations and experience may lead to different conclusions from what is reported or recommended. See disclaimer for further details. The technical data used to produce these bulletins is obtained from a variety of sources, including local ski areas and remote weather resources.