I’m not sure if this is good or bad news, but regardless, it’s news. The New York Times just ran a story on the science of avalanches. As any backcountry skier knows, understanding how avalanches work is a bit of art and science…and, in my opinion, luck. The story is no doubt in response to the many avalanche fatalities so far this year.
There have been 31 fatalities this winter season, 16 in the United States and 15 in Canada, including three snowmobilers in separate avalanches on Saturday in Idaho and Montana. The record in the United States is 35 in the winter of 2001-02. Three of this winter’s fatalities occurred within the boundaries of ski trails in commercial skiing areas, which is highly unusual, because of the careful forecasting and control work done in skiing areas.
If you’re going to take anything away from this story, it should be this:
The key to improving forecasting, Dr. Adams said, is understanding the surface layer, where sun and cold cause the snow crystals to change. Understanding the energy transfer on the surface can provide information about what is going on underneath.
I’ll be heading down to Salt Lake and Steamboat in a month, hoping, of course, to get in some days touring (as well as watching the National Championship Telemark Races. My biggest concern is not knowing the snow pack, but thankfully there are avalanche center websites out there that should help with this.
It’s not backcountry skiing per se, but I have to plug the US Telemark Ski Team as they represent what “backcountry skiing” used to be…well sort…at least the free heel part. My wife, Jeannine, is a member of the ski team, although is admittedly having a more difficult time training this year, being in Seattle versus Whitefish, MT, for the past two winters.
You can view what’s happening with the team on their site – http://www.ustsa.org – as they travel the globe, competing against the best telemark skiers in the world. Even better, show your support by donating to the team (so the athletes can do what they do best – race!) or at least try attending a telemark race, which is, by the way, a lot more exciting than you’d think.
I just received the following email from a friend at the Northwest Avalanche Center. The email was originally sent by the owner of North Cascades Mountain Guides, Larry Goldie. As an avid backcountry skier, this is not what I want to hear.
Hello Skiers,
There is currently a set of circumstances in the backcountry that we
want to make sure folks are well aware of.
The issue is this:
The level of Avalanche danger in the North Cascades right now is
perfectly set to kill…being high, (not Extreme) the snow pack is
releasing natural slides at an inconsistent rate…we are not seeing a
wide spread natural cycle. This being the case, human caused slides
are catching recreationalists off guard both in the ease of triggering
and in the size and severity of the slides. It is our belief that the
avalanche report from NWAC is not making this clear enough, instead
these facts are somewhat hidden in the text of the report. Suffice it
to say that this is a snowpack that has not existed here in at least
the last couple of decades. Slides are releasing on a weak layer at or
near the ground (the entire snowpack is releasing, full depth!) This is
a wide spread weakness that becomes very dangerous above 4,000 to 5,000
feet of elevation on all aspects and especially on lee slopes where
wind loading has occurred. This in combination of lack of snow at some
of our traditionally safe touring areas is pushing people into terrain
that is not manageable given the conditions.
A cavalier attitude about this snowpack will put you in your grave as
it did for twelve snowmobilers throughout the west last Sunday. In the Methow Valley alone there were four reported near misses between Sunday
and Monday. (not counting the one fatality!) In these instances people
were caught, carried, and/or injured by avalanches…some of these
people were highly educated in snow science and were using practices
usually known to be safe. One such group was not even in avalanche
terrain, they were in flat terrain beyond the runout zone and were
caught by a large slide from far above.
If you or people you know have been out within the last week in
avalanche terrain, you too have dodged a bullet. We recommend
that people stay clear of avalanche terrain (on or above you) or avoid
the backcountry all together until a significant warm up and/or rain
event occurs to sufficiently stabilize the snowpack. We should not be
surprised if more people are killed by avalanches in the coming days or
weeks.
Please consider other forms of recreation until this lethal snowpack
settles out.
Finally please forward this on to other folks who would benefit from
this information.
For anyone heading out into the backcountry, be careful.
This is not the weekend to go backcountry skiing, at least here in the Northwest. Interestingly, the reason for what could be a truly hazadarous weekend for any sort of ski touring, has less to do with the Pacific Northwest and more to do with the Rockies.
“This is the weakest snowpack I have seen in December in the past 20 years,” said Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle.
This isn’t just a short story about the snowpack here in the NW, it’s a lesson for anyone heading out into the backcountry. To make a long story short, our season started very late; we were hardly able to skin up the Muir Snowfield on Mt Rainier during Thanksgiving. But as is always the case, that changed; the entire weather pattern changed literally overnight. Frigid arctic air arrived from the north, and the moisture soon began to fall. Soon enough, our bare slopes were covered with 3-4 ft of blower pow. Great at first, a worry later on, because we all know what happens next…
“It’s a weak structure that, in many places, goes all the way to the ground,” Moore said.
But it’s not just here, in the typically “Cascade Concrete” that is heightening the awareness of avi experts.
It’s weaker and weirder everywhere across the west so far this year, said Paul Baugher, ski patrol director at Crystal Mountain Resort and founder of the Northwest Avalanche Institute.
“We’ve already had two (ski resort) in-area avalanche fatalities this year,” Baugher said.
On Dec. 14, a 27-year-old woman died at Utah’s Snowbird ski resort and on Christmas Day, a 21-year-old man was killed at California’s Squaw Valley ski resort. Both were experienced skiers who were in-bounds when they were caught in avalanches.
This is when backcountry ski freaks go a bit crazy. We’ve had a taste of the good stuff and we want more, a whole lot more. But is it worth it? I think I’ll be grabbing the skate skis this weekend.
The west is experiencing a series of big snow storms. The arctic front that had created havoc here in Seattle is moving across the country dumping all sorts of snow in the mountains. Great for ski areas, bad for backcountry skiers. Just today, the day before Christmas, 2 snowmobilers were caught, buried and killed in Utah. You can find a listing of all avalanches so far this year HERE
Time is running out on holiday shopping. Which is kind of scary, because with Christmas only a couple weeks away, there still is barely any snow in them hills! I woke up this morning, as I do every day, looked out the window and the Olympic Mountains are bare bare bare. It will come they say.
In the meantime, browse our growing selection of backcountry skiing photos (many of which do not contain skiers at all but beautiful landscapes encountered during our ski tours as well.)
Photography prints are available in many sizes, including true fine art prints mounted on canvas.
One of the many benefits to backcountry skiing in the Pacific Northwest (besides tons of snow and huge amounts of terrain) is we don’t have to worry AS MUCH about hoar frost. Which is why, while living in Whitefish, Montana, last winter, I was always a bit nervous ski touring. Although I wouldn’t say Whitefish (and nearby Glacier National Park) is a true continental snowpack, much of the snow that falls contains less moisture than here. Furthermore, calm, clear and bitterly cold nights are far more common, which in turn leads to the formation of hoar frost. This of course means super sketchy backcountry skiing. Case in point…
Nasty nasty hoar frost
We encountered this layer of hoar frost during a ski tour just outside Glacier National Park. Fortunately we uncovered this while traversing a pretty mellow slope. Regardless, our goal for the day was quickly modified and we stuck to some safer slopes.
It should be noted though that this layer was very localized. Matter of fact, it was present for only about 50 vertical yards, right below a small cornice on an area of the slope that didn’t get hammered by the wind.
It’s safe to say if you’re into ski touring, you’ve heard of hoar frost. It’s one of the main factors in avalanches and one of many reasons to keep on eye on conditions throughout the year in your area. Go to our Avalanche website page to find a link to your local avalanche center.
Yesterday I posted the video “A Dozen More Turns“, which was played at Saturdays Northwest Avalanche Summit here in Seattle. The avalanche video, showing the real-life story of a group of friends enjoying some epic hut skiing was, and is, a reminder that no matter how much avalanche experience you have, things can go wrong. The skier who triggered the slide died from trauma, while another was critically injured and would eventually have his leg amputated. Although I’d seen this movie before it wasn’t until the morning of the summit that I heard Sam, the one who suffered the critical injury, was actually going to be there to answer questions and provide a bit more detail about the accident. To make a long story short, he brought a very large sense of realness to the whole experience. It was pretty moving.
There was a lot more to the summit as well, including discussions on high routes in the Cascades, the art & science of weather and avalanche forecasting, a great talk by Martin Volken from Pro Guiding Service, as well as a piece on stability testing. Below is a quick avalanche video provided by the folks from the Gallatin National Forest Avi center covering one, rather new, method for avalanche testing, the ECT or Extended Column Test.
