SNOW IN THE PNW 2018-19

[Norseman]

Glad you're ok. Thanks for chiming in here... good words on the pack.

[Mofro261]

Before this last week's snow fall there were eerie pockets of hollow snow and micro-terrain collapses on the ground layer all around Hidden Peak, sounds like not enough warming yet to get at that now well loaded layer.

glad you are ok and still defiant about helmets.

[pyromaniacman129]

That's a big spill. Thank you for helping work on the conditions and opening for the rest of us at Baker. Glad you're mostly ok!

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[pipedream]

Everybody was standing around at Wildside & PC as I silently loaded the first true public chair of the season on Little T

[wickstad]

Mission skiing nice this am. Little scary. Variable. Some slabbiness but also some fairly decent powder. Groomers not too bad either. Pretty busy.


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[KQ]

The entire time it was happening all that I could think about was to do everything possible to avoid hitting my head on the rocks, so that I could go home and see my son Stian. I am defiantly going to be wearing a helmet for now on too.

Wow - good to know you're okay Grant and def. "yes" to the helmet!

BTW - had a good friend named Stian when I was younger - always loved that name.

[Gunder]

BTW - had a good friend named Stian when I was younger - always loved that name.

Its the only family name my wife didnt reject... it means "Adventure and light on the feet"

[KQ]

Its the only family name my wife didnt reject... it means "Adventure and light on the feet"

Growing up in the PNW close to Ballard seemed like all the guys had cool Scandinavian names like Pers, Jens, Cajetan, Trygve etc.. For girls I've always loved Kjersti. Much more interesting then my Irish family names or at least I thought so. I mean what girl wants to be named Oonagh when you can be named Kjersti?

[SchralphMacchio]

Thanks for the summary Grant and glad you’re still with us.

Sounds like you have a Colorado snowpack in the north Cascades right now, which is scary when you think about the fact that even Colorado recreational BC skiers have a hard time with deep persistent slab (DPS) problems. Coastal skiers from Tahoe to Baker just look at you funny when you tell them to STFU and stop using the word “bomber” or the term “no signs of instability” to describe a run they just took, skiing a slope sitting on probable or confirmed basal facets / deeply buried near-crust facets.

Hopefully word of the tricky snowpack gets around and people use the opportunity to practice good terrain and consequence management appropriate to the DPS problem ... hopefully.

Rest well and get well soon!

[oftpiste]

was glad to see you in one piece Gunder.

[ACH]

I feel like I was hit by a truck, tossed in a washing machine then punched in the face by Mike Tyson. I am just grateful to be alive and to have escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Thanks for sharing Grant, glad you that you are more or less OK.

[Buster Highmen]

That ain't Gunder, too few misspellings.

(glad you're ok)

[Stairmaster]

Mission skiing nice this am. Little scary. Variable. Some slabbiness but also some fairly decent powder. Groomers not too bad either. Pretty busy.


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Heard someone got caught in a slide and partially buried in-bounds today. Said the crown was 50ft wide and 2-3 ft deep, he luckily able to get out just fine, but scary out there.

[KQ]

Yikes - gusting close to 50mph at the Summit of Mission!

[wickstad]

Heard someone got caught in a slide and partially buried in-bounds today. Said the crown was 50ft wide and 2-3 ft deep, he luckily able to get out just fine, but scary out there.

Ouch. I didn’t know there was a partial burial. It ran into the trees just east of no name. Looked like patrol was searching so I asked if there was a burial and the guy said they weren’t sure yet. I skied Lemolo twice which was fantastic and then the next ride up they were closing that side and no longer searching.

[pipedream]

After a crusty and firm 4hr20min of golfing today, I decided to hang-up the stick and go get some work done. Coverage is great, surface conditions not so much... rock board(s) not necessary but sharp edges are. Good to get the hill open and the stoke going - we'll see how much survives this coming w

[wickstad]

The following is a combination of a repost of my Facebook / Instagram account of the accident, as well as a few thoughts I have added based upon the questions I have been asked the most. Please pardon the typo's. My typing is even worse than usual due to the amount of bruising I have.

The avalanche conditions right now are EXTREMELY dangerous. So I chose to help patrol out with getting the ski area set up for opening the last few days. Two days ago on opening day, I was caught in a slide while helping them. Pro Patrol did Avalanche control in the morning and I was then helping them mark a few rocks / cliffs before they opened the Chute. I was standing on a big flat ledge and had just placed a cliff sign, when a slab broke behind me 4 feet to ground. I ended up airing over a portion of the cliff hit the knuckle with my skis then got washed over the rocks. (See pic bellow). I am extremely lucky that I ended up with only relatively minor injuries. A separated shoulder and a few avulsion fractures in my ankle. The good news is the doc thinks I will only be out for a couple of weeks, so I should be back skiing and shooting by New Years.

The entire time it was happening all that I could think about was to do everything possible to avoid hitting my head on the rocks, so that I could go home and see my son Stian. I am defiantly going to be wearing a helmet for now on too.

I feel like I was hit by a truck, tossed in a washing machine then punched in the face by Mike Tyson. I am just grateful to be alive and to have escaped with relatively minor injuries.

The slope broke on a facet / hoarfrost layer we have at the bottom of our snow pack… something we very rarely see in the PNW. The area that slid on me had been controlled with explosives and numerous patrollers had already skied that exact area working to get the run open. Yet it still slid. This is a very difficult layer to predict and when it does release it will go to ground.

The side country is going to take at long time to be safe unless we get a rain cycle. All of this new snow is only contributing to the load, and can even give a false sense of stability while a very dangerous combination of layers exist bellow.

Mt. Baker has one of the best teams of employees, Pro Patrol / Avy control teams on the continent. Please have some patience for them as they are dealing with very challenging conditions while they are making the ski area safe for everyone. Please respect the areas they have closed. They are closed for a very good reason, and they will get everything open as soon as its safe.

The split second decision to try and jump as much of it as possible is most likely what saved me from more injuries. I really wanted to get ahead of as much snow as possible so it wouldnt pile me into the mid cliff bench. That mostly worked and my right ankle took the majority of the impact.

I just did an 8 day long CAA professional operations avalanche class. Where we had discussed how unpredictable basal facets are as well as how no one really understands exactly what the mechanics of these post control slides are. Big White had a very large one just a few years ago.

The current thinking that the experts doing all of the research at the Canadian Avalanche Association is that sometimes with a basal facet situation explosives may just weaken the snow pack but not always trigger a slide when the layer is so deep. Then a relatively small trigger can set off the slide. Often several hours later. This just happened in Jackson-hole 2 weeks ago.

The ski area had put numerous hand charges on that run and only got minimal results. That morning we had also been discussing how all of the new snow we received the day before followed by overnight cooling made the snow pack feel that it had tightened up but we all also felt that was just giving a false sense of security.

The reports I got from yesterday (see bearded clams posts) is that they only opened the two lifts as the additional snow they received over night was just enough to make that layer very reactive.

So I feel like I just was unlucky enough to have found an extra week spot when it slid. My best guess is that all of the rock in that area contributed to slightly larger/ weaker facets. That’s the biggest issue with avalanches. There is just so much spatial variability involved to make perfect predictions.

In 20 years of skiing Baker full time and 38 years of skiing I have never seen conditions like this before in the PNW. This type of layer often takes months to heal and thats with perfect conditions. In reality the best case scenario for stabilizing the backcountry is a full on major rain event to the top and for the water to percolate into the facet layer. That would cause numerous climax slides and would help to wet and refreeze the facet layer. Other wise the facet layer can easily be reloaded by new snow unless a slide takes the slope to ground. This layer is most likely worse anywhere we have lots of rocks and steep roll overs in the terrain.... which if you haver ever spent time in the Baker area during the summer you know we have plenty of, especially on all of the best ski terrain.
Attachment 260013

We’re you then going to ski the chute? How low in there were you?

[Gunder]

We’re you then going to ski the chute? How low in there were you?

I was on the skiers left. Just after the choke in the waterfall cliff section. My plan was to take the same route across the bench into the main chute the patrollers before me did. I was only in that spot to fix a cliff sign.

[pipedream]

It seems too early in the thread to be getting excited about 2"...

In other news, I suspect storm-related clean-up may keep some folks away from the slopes tomorrow...

[jackattack]

Yikes - gusting close to 50mph at the Summit of Mission!

We call that light to moderate.

[TAFKALVS]

Snowing very hard on my drive over Stevens tonight

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[pipedream]

Pugetopolis is trying to give the Windy Hill a run for its money tonight...

I say LET IT BLOW, LET IT BLOW, LET IT BLOW! I bet NWAC would agree...

[b0ardski]

[Bandit Man]

Flying solo at Stevens today. Skiing Wrens with gaper style. Ask for change.

[pyromaniacman129]

I'll be with some buddies at Baker today if anyone makes it up. I'm the big dude in the half bright half dark Oakley jacket probably looking like a newborn deer trying to walk on my skis.

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