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Topic: Jan 6, 2008 - Avalanche above Paradise (Read 7217 times)
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Mad_Dog
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Posts: 614
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Thanks guys for the info - I'm just trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible.
When making a decision, what would you say you put the most faith in - digging a pit, knowing the weather info, visual cues, aspect, or something else?
I would say all of the above, plus trusting your "gut" feelings, having the training, and taking your brain with you ;-).
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There is nothing worse than refusing to learn: this is where old age begins.
Jeanette
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curmudgeon
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Posts: 457
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In the "something other" category -- pole probes, Once you have an idea of the layers, you need to be able to see how they vary over distance and changes in aspect and elevation. You can dig multiple pits, but constantly probing with your poles can give you a lot of infomation on the depth of the wind deposit, strength of the underlying crust, density below the crust, and anyof the other factors you found in your pit tests or have gathered from following the snowpack and weather information.
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bc_skier
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Posts: 92
WWW
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Thanks to everyone for their comments and theories.
I am sure this could be analyzed and many theories could be possible, here are my thoughts in simple, non scientific terms.
The (X) slope slid because the wind loading finally built up enough slab (weight) on the slope to collapse the underlying weak layer.
Why did the other slopes not slide? In my opinion, they could have, had a skier or snowshoer ventured out in those areas at the time. The other slopes in that area were like a loaded gun ready to fire. The week layer was present in most of the snowpack; the weight of the slab on the leeward sides had not quite built up enough weight to trigger them naturally.
We have had an above average snowfall this past month and have had an incredibly touchy snowpack for the Northwest. One thing to take note about the avalanche incidences here in the Northwest this winter is the lack of backcountry skiers involved, which is to credit the level of awareness of backcountry skiers, the NWAC and the level of avalanche education available to us today.
To a deep winter,
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Boot
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Posts: 285
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The picture of this slide has really been bothering me because the slope looks so benign. After searching through all of my pics, none of which really shows it well, I finally realized the one missing piece in this whole discussion, and that's slope angle. There is significant "foreshortening" in that photo that takes away the steepness of that slope. Now I agree with all that has been said here and that any slope can slide, but that is a very steep slope and in the summer has a significant cliff-band to the right of the trees and sometimes in winter a bit of a lip with convex rolling, probably right where the sharp line of the crown is seen. If I'm right, I hope that would keep most off of it in high ave danger days, assuming you could see it  . Fog always adds another layer of risk!
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md2020
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Posts: 377
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I took this photo last Sunday 1/13. There's a significant pillow formed near that slide.
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Mike Metz
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