Heli Bombing at Baker and some big ass slides.

[Gunder]

Early last Saturday, the Mt. Baker Ski Patrol used a helicopter to do control work on the Shuksan Arm and on Hemispheres as there was significant potential for large destructive slides to come inside the ski area. The following images are the results of that work. NOTE, NWAC was only issuing a ratting of Moderate for Saturday. These results prove there is a very deep and still active layer in our snow pack that may become very active when the temps start to raise. A profile of the large crown on Hemispheres showed a very hard ICY bed surface with a layer of facets above it that the slab was sitting on. SCARRY! We measured the Hemispheres crown at 12~13 feet. A 350 CM ruler was not long enough!

Use the link bellow for pics.

http://grantgunderson.com/blog/

[TahoeJ]

Uh, woah.

[BraddA]

Dang. I'd have been a bit more puckered than that guy's smile suggests he is. I don't care that the hangfire survived the bombing, that shit's huge!

[_Aaron_]

Those crowns are as deep or deeper than most of our debris piles in the Tetons. Yikes. Any idea what size charges they were throwing?

[hop]

Any idea what size charges they were throwing?

Potato guns. There were a few 50lb bags of ANFO here and there but mostly potato guns.

[Gunder]

Those crowns are as deep or deeper than most of our debris piles in the Tetons. Yikes. Any idea what size charges they were throwing?

50 LB bags of Ammonium Nitrate.

[kidwoo]

I would prefer to not be standing where that gentleman is standing.


Nice pics man (as usual)

[GoldMember]

Gives me the heebie-jeebies just looking at that guy next to the crown. Holy crap!

Nice shots, thanks for putting up the link!

[GoldMember]

Potato guns. There were a few 50lb bags of ANFO here and there but mostly potato guns.

What size potatoes?

[Greydon Clark]

What size potatoes?

Fingerlings. They're the most accurate.

[neufox47]

Sweet work gunder. Thanks. Those are scary scary.

[ShadyNasty]

wow, that shits insane

[jgb@etree]

Holy fucking jeebus. My wife just came running into my den asking "What? What happened? Is everything OK?" after overhearing me muttering things like "OMG - holy mother of God, I can't believe it" while viewing Gunders pics.

The height of that crown is unbelievable. Just looking at it scares the shit out of me.

WOW.

[White Chocolate]

It was rather amusing on saturday listening to all the people who had been skiing lines in the areas that slid trying to convince themselves that they had been 100% safe in their decision making. While yes, skier weight probably wasn't enough to trigger anything like these, obviously the danger was still there, and there are many other factors besides skier weight that can trigger an avalanche.........

[Snakeboy]

Great pics Gunder. That crown is insane. I had to check for shitstains just looking at it.

[lynchdogger]

Awesome pics Gunder. Insanely scary shit but still awesome. Mother nature is one bad ass bitch!

[hop]

It was rather amusing on saturday listening to all the people who had been skiing lines in the areas that slid trying to convince themselves that they had been 100% safe in their decision making. While yes, skier weight probably wasn't enough to trigger anything like these, obviously the danger was still there, and there are many other factors besides skier weight that can trigger an avalanche.........

It was midweek (Wednesday and Thursday) when most of lines that were bombed got skied. It was cold and clear on Wednesday. Solar radiation was a factor but most people I watched got after it between 0930 and about 1100, before the sun really got a chance to heat things up. On Thursday it was equally cold with a fog bank rolling over the Arm in the morning. If there was ever a time to ski that stuff it was probably then, before the sun got a chance to warm it up and while the temps were still in the low-mid 20s.

Didn't you ski Hourglass on Saturday afternoon after the sun had been out all day and the temps were way above freezing??? Hourglass has already gone huge naturally at least once this season and it didn't take a 50lb bag of ANFO nor a skier to trigger it. Given what I know about avalanches (granted I'm far from an expert) and the Baker snowpack this season, I felt a lot more comfortable skiing on the Arm mid-week vs. on Saturday.

Check the weather from last week here

[GoldMember]

....Hourglass has already gone huge naturally at least once this season and it didn't take a 50lb bag of ANFO nor a skier to trigger it.....

Sooooo....fingerling potatoes were enough to get it done?

Seriously, those are some huge slides going off over there and everywhere else. This time of year, with major temperature swings are going to make for some really sketchy lines. Everyone, please be careful! There's been waaaay too many 'vibes' threads this year; or any year, for that matter.

[media310]

Stunning photos!!! "This town is nuts, my kind of place I don't want to leave"

[.jon.]

Wow.

Not much else to say.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Nothing substantive to add here - wow. Great shots as usual.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I hope they light the fuse holding it OUTSIDE the chopper.

And can I ask what all the potato talk is about? I'm not hip to the explosives jive.

[GoldMember]

^^ You've never shot a potato gun? You haven't lived, my friend....

Check the batteries in your sarcasm meter, they may be a little low.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Oh. Lol. Ok.

Sent from my DROID2

[hop]

Oh. Lol. Ok.

Sounds like you should also watch Gaffney's "1999".