Thursday, February 28, 2008

February avalanche conditions vary widely

What happened to all the nice snow?

Coquihalla and Mt Baker highways closed due to avy danger. During last week the Coquihalla got 50 cm in 6 hrs with 100 km/h winds. Avy forecast EXTREME. FL going up over 1000 meter. What to do? An urban paddle.

The Coquihalla actually stayed closed for 10 days. For a day or two, Highway 1 was closed also, leaving the route through Manning Park the only option to travel to the Interior.

Such a wide range of avy conditions during February, with both the triple 'Extreme' and triple 'Low' is something we don't get to see very often on the coast.