LIABILITY WAIVER
This mountain conditions advisory is provided as a public service by Aspiring Guides Ltd. It is intended as an advisory only. Those endeavouring to travel into any of the areas mentioned do so at their own risk. Backcountry travellers should be well informed about current weather, snowpack and avalanche hazards and should not travel alone. All members of your party should wear a transceiver (457khz) and know how to use it. In addition everyone should carry a shovel, and a probe. Travellers should advise someone where they are travelling, and when they will next make contact. |
12 Oct 07
Spring ! Spring ! Spring !
Low hazard if wary of steep sun-warmed slopes.
Entered by : Murray Ball
2/9/07
Comment: Below 1800m snowpack saturated. Above still has a cold snowpack. 20cm of NS on the 1/9/07 wind affected, but bonding well to old. Route out is good. Skied boldrush
Entered by: James Hamilton
23rd August 07
Wind affected snow, with fetches of good skiing in the gullies. MF crust on Solar aspects with good corn skiing in the PM. South Face at the lower rock band as pulled out. Still deep and not so deep instability 30th June CR (spatial variation ) above 1800m on all aspects. Walked over boldrush chutes, hand rail buried. Interesting when we get more snow.
Entered by: James Hamilton
2 aug 07
Ice quality and quantity is still good. Recent warming trend has softened and melted ice, but no sign of major icicle collapses (yet). Recent snow has covered easier-angled shelfs, requiring much cleaning away. There still exists on some (unclimbed) shelfs a layer of surface ice on top of a sandwich-layer of snow, creating significant ice-sheet slabbing potential. Afternoon sluffing evident after snowfalls, particularly on sunny aspects.
At 1800 m strong winds and new snow have created 40cm snow drifts with shears at midlayer and new-old interface, both MOD shears but the former more likely to be a clean shear. At crags the spindrift has built up deep layers of loose but stable snow.
Entered by: Marty B
17.7.07 The South facing shady ice is in great climbing condition. Some E facing easier angled ramps have a layer of new ice overlaying facetted snow creating a potential collapsing sheet-ice hazard. No falling icicle hazard observed.
Marty Beare
Written by Pete James 06/07/07 The ice at Black Peak is in excellent condition with all of the main areas covered in thick blue ice.
The storm cycle of the 3-5/7/07 produced 35cm of new snow on top of a very firm base (overall snowdepth 65cm at 1800m). Overall the Backcountry Hazard for the Black Peak region on 06/07/07 is MODERATE. Backcountry travellers should avoid steeper terrain near ridgelines where isolated pockets of windslab have formed lee to the prevailing SE wind. Otherwise new snow coverage is relatively even and promises some great skiing and boarding over the next few days.
10/0/06 James Hamilton at Black Peak last night reported excellent spring conditions on Escapade (east facing) and a good time was had by boarders and skiers in the party. Use the different aspects on Black Peak to your advantage, there's some great skiing to be had !
Written by Pete James 09/09/06:
Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region on 09/09/06 is LOW. Watch slide for life conditions during the earlier part of the day and upon shaded aspects below 1900m.
Written by Pete James 29/08/06:
Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region on 24/08/06 is LOW.
Written by Pete James 24/08/06:
Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region on 24/08/06 is MODERATE. Some great skiing to be had -especially in wind sheltered areas where there is up to 15-20cm of powder. Instabilities within the storm snow of the 18th-21st August appear to be settling out relatively well although it is likely that pockets of less stable snow exist on steeper and unsupported slopes SE-N above 1400m and on steep solar terrain below 1800m during the heat of the day.
Written by Pete James 19/08/06:
Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region on 19/08/06 is HIGH. 30-40cm of new snow above 1700m has fallen in the last 24hrs. Winds are strong about the tops with moderate to intense snow transport expected onto slopes lee to the NW-SW 1/2 during the day and overnight. Another cold front is presently making its way up the Sth Island and is likely to bring more snow to the Black Peak region over the next 24 hrs. Travel in the backcountry without a qualified guide is inadvisable for the next 24hrs.
Written by Pete James 17/08/06:
Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region on 17/08/06 is MODERATE. Some great snow to be found on sheltered Southerly aspects like the south face chutes on Black Peak and lower Grenstone trails. Watch steep solar aspects below 1700m during heat of the day where the possibility of loose snow avalanches exists.
Written by Pete James 1130pm 30/07/06:
A low pressure cell and its accompanying frontal system are delivering significant amounts of new snow to the Wanaka region from the NW over the 30/31st July. The most significant weather events prior to this cycle were the wind stripping of the snowpack from the SW 1/4 on the 23rd July and the clear cold anti-cyclone conditions over the 5 days following that event. Consequently the snowpack prior to the current storm is relatively thin on aspects not lee to the SW and significant amounts of depth hoar and faceted grains are present within the lower layers of the snowpack on these aspects and wherever the snowpack is less than approximately 80cm deep. Where snowpack depths are greater than 80-100cm gradual rounding of deeper faceted layers is occurring. In such places a hard slab layer is offering significant “bridging” or “capping” strength, which would require quite heavy loading to initiate release within deeper layers.
The lack of any significant effects of solar radiation upon SW-SE aspects has resulted in some frost-drying of the upper layers of the snowpack where faceted crystals were observed within the surface layers prior to the current storm cycle. The current storm cycle contains a high degree of humidity and new snow is expected to bond quite well with the snow surface prior to the storm cycle –which was primarily rough in texture although highly spatially variable due to wind scouring.
Whilst precipitation estimates do not suggest that widespread instabilities will result from the current storm cycle care will need to be taken on S and E aspects where significant amounts of wind drifted snow may accumulate to trigger the release of slab avalanches –particularly at mid slope elevations and upon unsupported slopes and convex roll-overs, as the forecasted wind strengths are in the strong to gale force range about the tops and at ridgelines. Travel on S and E aspects should be restricted to lower angled terrain -keeping in mind that whilst the overall stability on these aspects is not likely to be less than FAIR there exists the potential for persistent deep weak layers to release when triggered by backcountry travelers both on and beneath avalanche start zones. Backcountry groups should avoid grouping together and keep well spaced keeping a keen eye on other members within the party at all times.
No data is available to indicate whether instabilities exist within the new snow currently being deposited within the storm cycle at this stage. Weather and snowpack information over the next 12-18hrs will help determine whether such instabilities do indeed exist. For the time being the backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak region is MODERATE.
Pete James wrote: Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak Region on 28/7/06 is LOW. The ice is in amazing shape. The snowpack is a little wind-scoured but the weather forecast predicts some good snowfall over the following 72 hrs.
Pete James wrote: Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak Region on 21/7/06 is HIGH. Backcountry travel is not recomended without a qualified guide. Travel should be restricted to lower angle terrain away from potential runout zones and avalanche paths situated below steeper W-NE facing slopes.
Pete James wrote: Backcountry avalanche hazard for the Black Peak Region on 13/7/06 is HIGH. Backcountry travel is not recommended without a qualified guide. Travel should be restricted to lower angle terrain away from potential runout zones and avalanche paths situated below steeper NE-SE facing slopes.
Significant amounts of new snow have been falling throughout the last 36hrs with mod-strong NW-SW winds about the tops loading up NE - SE slopes, -especially immediately below ridgelines. Stability overall is FAIR with isolated areas of POOR stability on steeper NE-SE facing terrain that may release with the addition of further snowfall or the weight of a single skier. Further snowfall is forecast throughout the day from the western quarter.
Watch steep isolated terrain lee to the Western quarter above 1200m where wind blown snow may have accumulated to depths that may trigger with further wind-loading or a skiers weight.
Stability Evaluation For Black Peak: Cool Calm conditions, promoting FC and SH. Ridges bare of snow and gullies have variable depth. Overall Stab: Good Ice Condition is great, low angle ice is variable.
Stability Evaluation for Black Peak region 18/06/06: Due to the strong winds 2 days earlier and prior to the latest snowfall much of the previously less stable snowpack base has been scoured down to tussock and rock boulder level. The new snow sitting on top of the wind scoured base appears to be well bonded overall. The stability overall is GOOD, with the possible exception of some steeper pockets of snow located above 1800m lee to the western quarter where some FAIR stability may exist.
