Professional Observation - John F. Stevens Canyon, southern Glacier National Park

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - John F. Stevens Canyon, southern Glacier National Park
Region: 
Flathead Range/Glacier National Park - John F. Stevens Canyon
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 01/19/2016 - 12:00
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

DATE

SUBMITTED:

TIME SUBMITTED:

OBSERVATION LOCATION

OBSERVATION

DATE:

SUBMITTED BY:

1/19/2016

        2100

Shed 7 East

1/19/2016

Steiner

 

Toured up the looker’s right side of the Shed 7 path and then ascended onto the Shed 7 East/ Shed 6 ridge. Ski cuts in Test Slope 1 and then onto the Shed 7 weather station for a welfare check. Conducted a full profile just uphill from the weather station on a protected northeast aspect slope. 

Skiing conditions were good on ascent and descent due to fresh snow and a supportable crust buried beneath newly deposited snow.

  • Windloading/ crossloading occurring on easterly and northeasterly aspects.

 

  • Windslab conditions on S, SE, E, and NE aspects.

 

  • Shooting cracks and very small, isolated, soft slabs triggered under single skier weight. Triggering was intentional and prominent on lee aspects of various terrain features.

 

  • No audible collapsing or remote triggering of avalanches.

 

  • No cornice failures observed.

 

  • Conducted a full profile on a 29 degree, northeast aspect at approximately 6,400 feet.

 

  • HS at profile location was 141 cm. Snowpack at this location lacked any significant weak layers except for the bottom 16 cm of depth hoar.  Stability tests resulted in an ECT-X and a CT20 Q2 at @91 cm.

 

No avalanche activity observed today. As mentioned previously, we did intentionally trigger a very small isolated soft slab in Test Slope 1 (Southeast aspect @ 5200 feet (1576m)) that varied between 30 cm and 15 cm in crown height.  This slab terminated immediately after being triggered.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

BNSF AVALANCHE SAFETY FIELD OBSERVATIONS SUBMITTED TO FLATHEAD AVALANCHE CENTER AND GLACIER NATIONAL PARK ARE BEING PROVIDEDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SPECIFIED GLACIER NATIONAL PARK SPECIAL USE PERMIT.  

THESE OBSERVATIONS REPRESENT SITE SPECIFIC INFORMATION INTENDED FOR THE BNSF AVALANCHE SAFETY PROGRAM AND IN NO WAY ARE TO BE CONSTRUED AS A PUBLIC/ RECREATION AVALANCHE FORECAST.  

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Air temperature: 
Wind Speed: 
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

Overcast and broken skies, moderate westerly winds, and no precipitation throughout the day. Air temperatures were in low thirties at Canyon floor elevations and in the mid to upper twenties at elevations above 5,200 feet. Active windloading occurring on easterly and northeasterly aspects throughout the day.

Activity: 
Skiing