Backcountry Snow, Weather, and Avalanche Conditions for Gulmarg 18.2.2015
ALPINE 3,000 to 4,000 meters – CONSIDERABLE
BELOW TREELINE Below 3,000 meters – MODERATE
Primary Problem
Wind slabs form where wind has deposited or drifted snow. You will find them on lee aspects, generally near ridge lines, around terrain features and in ‘cross-loaded’ features like vertical ridges, couloirs and gullies. Wind slabs may remain reactive for up to a week after the wind event has ended.
Secondary Problem
A persistent slab is any slab formed over a persistent weak layer, in our case, depth hoar. These slabs are hard to predict, often are triggered from the middle or low on the slab, and can propagate over large areas and across terrain features traditionally thought of as safe zones, like ridges, benches, and low angle terrain. The problem can last for weeks or months.
Snowpack discussion
We received 5cms of snow in the past 24 hours at mid-mountain. Likely areas for avalanches are along ridgelines and in cross loaded areas, chiefly due to wind transported snow causing wind slab formation. Winds were primarily out of the south-southeast in the past 48 hours, so likely locations for wind slab formation are on NW,N, and NE facing slopes. Our main concern is still the persistent slab problem. Our snowpack is sitting on a persistent weak layer of 5mm depth hoar. A wind slab, dry loose (“sluff”), or storm slab avalanche stepping down onto the persistent weak depth hoar layer at the bottom of our snowpack could produce a large and dangerous slide.
Weather Discussion for 3000m Cloudy today with more snow accumulation forecasted for this afternoon. Light southerly winds for most of the day. Snow is forecasted to come through overnight tonight, with pulses of heavy snow accumulation through most of the day tomorrow.
Ski Area Information (Green zone)
Phase 2 – closed
Phase 1 – open at 0830
Chair lift – open at 1030*
*When the chair lift opens today, take advantage of the fact that we want to keep you from traversing underneath the hanging slabs above (Don’t turn right as you get off the chair lift). Stay to the right of the chair lift tower as you ski down. If you go to the left of the chair lift towers you are exposing yourself to avalanches coming down from above. We learned a few weeks ago with a close call that when a portion of the ski area is closed, natural and human-triggered avalanches are possible and you shouldn’t ski there. If you traverse towards the paper trees today, you are exposing yourself to slabs hanging above you.
+Observer Community
Today is a great day to dig a quick test pit and see how our snow pack is changing with the new dense storm snow load. What are your results on the depth hoar layer? What is the new snow/old snow interface doing? An observation you could send to us would be something like: “Yesterday when skinning on a 28 degree NE facing ridgeline at 3250 meters I heard and felt whumpfing underfoot and saw shooting cracks (albeit small).” This is great information for us to improve your advisory. What observations did you have today in the trees and in the alpine? Let us know. A test pit that is planned should take 10 minutes. 150 cms wide. For the new snow-old snow interface a plan: Shovel Shear, Compression Test, ECT, done. If you’d like to spend more time then a Propagation Saw Test (http://www.ucalgary.ca/asarc/files/asarc/PstHowTo_Ross_Oct08.pdf) or Ruschblock will be the best bet for testing the depth hoar/crust combo at the bottom of the snowpack. Email: gulmargsafetyfirst@gmail.com. Phone: 0-946-984-2959.
