AST II – Day 2

Breakfast

We ended up in Portobellos again, partly because it’s so close and partly because I’m hooked on their breakfast wraps. We’ve discovered you can get 10% off with a season pass which is pretty cool although I wish I’d known earlier!

The Plan

The plan for day two was to execute the route we’d planned the previous evening. We met up with the rest of the group in Pika’s to discuss the most recent avalanche and weather forecasts. The warming was continuing and it was set to hit 12C in the alpine (crazy, it’s meant to be January not June). We decided our major concerns were

• Cornices
• Possibly limited options to travel if the ridge is narrow

Digging The Pit

We dug a snow pit at the base of Harmony, this was fascinating since I’d built up a picture in my head of the layers from reading the avalanche reports. I was pleased to see that my mental picture wasn’t that far off. The hoar frost on the surface of the snow was incredible, we’d heard reports of rystals the size of your palm in Rogers Pass.

We dug a large pit in a representative spot for the slope we were planning to ride later that day. After several minutes rapid digging (it was cold!) we’d gug a pit about 3 metres wide and down to the ground. 

We could begin to clearly see the distinct layers from the various storms so far this season once we’d smoothed the pit wall.

Recording Snowpack Information

The layers were then marked with wooden sticks (acquired from your favourite vendor of overpriced coffee). We then began to measure the temperature at 10cm intervals moving further and further down the snowpack, this allows us to determing the Temperature Gradient of the snowpack.

Temperature gradient is a critical factor in how the snow changes over time. If you see more than 1 degree C difference over 10cm this means that the layer of snow is likely to facet (get weaker), if there is less than a 1 degree difference the snow is likely to strengthen. Annoyingly snow gets weaker faster than it gets stronger. You can get books from MEC (made out of waterproof paper) for recording all the information about the snowpack.

 While we were measuring the snow pack temperature (you need to wait a minute or two while the thermometer adjusts to the correct temperature) we began our stability tests.

Stability Tests

 Stability tests are a way to test how likely a particular layer is to fail.  The first test we did was the Shovel Shear Test which is a good way to find a weak layer but it tells you little about how strong the layer is. Better tests for determining strength are the Compression Test and the Extended Column Test which we did next. It was incredible to see just how cohesive the slab was, you could even pick it up without it falling apart. It was also surprisingly heavy!  

It was unnerving to see how easily some of the layers failed this was fairly consistent with the avalanche forecast but it’s somehow much more real when you see it with your own eyes. Once we’d finished in the pit  we continued on our journey…

Executing the Plan

Both of these turned out to be non-issues for the route we were traveling since the ridge was wide and well tree covered and the cornices didn’t start until much further up. We headed out to the base of Harmony via Marmot and then set out up the access road to the base of Symphony (I’d never even noticed this before, I must ride around with my eyes shut). This wouldn’t be the normal route we’d take to Lesser Flute but Whistler Blackcomb had restricted anybody from being in the closed area of their tenure due to the avalanche risk. So up the ridge we trudged, the route was very different to how I’d pictured it in my head. It was pretty easy going but it was very warm. The lower slopes were pretty crusty but as we reached the upper slopes the snow quality improved markedly.  Once we’d left the trees you could start to see the extent of the avalanches everywhere you look. There were big wet looking slides on the South facing side of Harmony Ridge and some huge slab avalanches over on Oboe, you could even see the crown line of the slide that pushed the groomer off Pika’s.

The Pit 2

When we reached the summit of Lesser Flute we leapt into action to dig a second pit. This time we did a Rutschblock Test. It was interesting to see that this time we couldn’t get any layers to fail. We put this down to the temperature inversion affecting the snowpack more at higher altitudes. It was good to see that the weak layers were strengthening.

The Ride Down

Since the snow in the trees on the way up was so sketchy we decided to ride down the run (Ridge Runner) which I’d never been on before (for fairly obvious reasons if you check out the trail map).  We rode down as a group but with sensible spacing. The top two thirds of the run had some nice turns in it, certainly better than anything we’d had in resort for some time. Probably not quite worth the walk up in the general scheme of things but given the shocking conditions recently it was fun!  I think we’re getting better at the whole group management thing. It was interesting to see how much easier it is to pick a safe route down than a good route up. I guess we all have far more experience picking down routes.

Another excellent and informative day was had by all, I finished the day tireed but looking forward to the next two days