Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Baldy avalanche 1-16-2011

I know a lot of folks on this forum use Mt Baldy for winter training…… well don’t turn your back on Baldy, yikes

Two glissaders almost caught in an avy over on the Western Bowl











Some of those snow blocks are washer-machine in size. Both were OK after their mad dash out of harm’s way
Also, kudos to Team Subaru (Luciano137, Scott, Sonja (?)) for giving the avy shout-out

Here’s link to the rest of my photos
http://grahamcracker.smugmug.com/2011/Baldy-Bowl-1-16-2011/15477048_UQhV2#1158822484_8UyDc

Cheers,
RickG

Scary stuff indeed, those guys are real lucky! With all the sun that slope gets I was wondering if the recent warm weather might lead to some wet slide avys in the Bowl and I guess it did...and is that an older, melted-in avy track just to the left of the latest one? If so, that, and the even more recent one to the right, would be a good warning sign to look for when assessing conditions.
At least it doesn't look like large slabs are coming down, more like loose snow avys. The one to the right of that looks pretty impressive too! With the large, wide area for runout it doesn't look that deep but get hit with one of those blocks and the potential for injury is real high...

Hi Thanks Graham for the photos, I went up yesterday checking the slopes around Lone Pine Peak, Candelight and Thor they are ready to move also the slope North of Upper Boyscout Lake is melting on the upper region so it is getting wet lower and should move unless we get some cold nights.

Maybe stay clear of the fall line as the one slides from your pictures looks like a rock fall had started the slide . Also maybe the two started the slide that caught them. Very detailed photos for education. A thousand words?


Ava, Ryan, Brandon, and Richard will be down today and I am sure will have many photos of the North Fork. Thanks Doug

Hey Mark, I heard someone at the hut say the slide on the right happened on Sat (not confirmed) and the slide on the left was triggered by the 2 glissades ~noon on Sunday.
The temps were mild, but the wind-chill required a long sleeve shirt


What the photo doesn’t capture is how much power that small avy had.
If those guys got caught in those tumbling snow-blocks……Egad….I hate to think what could have happened
Luckily they exited stage-left quickly

I wouldn't be surprised if another slide happens on that western slope in the near future, it's not all that consolidated.
Be safe out there folks

Great photos, Rick and very instructive! We had climbed to the right of the earlier, dirty (as in chock full of rock) slide and were just topping out on the "Dostie's Dare" chute when the new one occured. Really glad no one was hurt--those "little" slides still pack a big punch and can be lethal.

Thanks for the update Doug.

I'm missing my crew & was wondering how everything was "holding up".

Sorry I missed you this trip (((hugs to the Dougs)))

Graham on Baldy - NOT starting an avalanche

Temps are not going to be freezing, even at night, until next Sat according to forecasts. So I've got to think that with the snowpack staying warm or getting warmer that more wet-slides are going to occur. Are we going to see some in the center bowl area, or even the eastern side? The two slides on the western side have been loose slides but could a slide in the center bowl be a slab event? The fact that we've had one avy triggered by glissaders and one probably by rockfall indicates that the slope is extremely sensitive and right on the edge of instability. There are a whole lot of variables to compute on this that I don't have the expertise to accurately analyze, but looking only at the facts that we've had two avys already and the temps are relatively high, it may be prudent to stay off the bowl until we get back to some freezing temps. Maybe stay in the trees on the western side and climb the normal summertime trail route along the ridge...I dunno, feedback anyone?

Hey...does this helmet make my head look fat?

It makes you look really smart

Mark, I think the western side is more susceptible to avys because of the steeper slopes. In past years, I’ve seen lots of slides on the western slopes, and some slides just left of center, but none in the center or right of center (eastern side). This is to say that slides can’t happen on the right side, I just don’t recall ever seeing any.

No, just well protected Rick! <this emoticon should have a rock bouncing off of it's head...lol!>

Yeah Rick, I think it was last year I saw one left of center but I haven't seen one on the eastern side or in the center itself in the last year or two. I'm reading an avy book right now and thinking about a class soon so I'm trying to put the theory into the field...
Great pics of that avalanche BTW!

The right slide pictured did happen on Saturday (~12-12:30).

There was also a nasty (huge) bolder than came down the center bowl quite close to a number of hikers.

I was on the eastern side of the bowl with a party of three when both occurred.

Somewhere, I have a video of a slide from a few years ago. Neat/Instructive to see (from a distance).

Hi I would watch climbing up the section below the cornice in Grahams photo posted at 9:07 AM .
Looks to be about the center of the left portion of the bowl.

Maybe some basic fear I have always had , if I see heavy snow and warm weather I always tend to stay on the ridge away from the slides and If the temperature is very cold I may risk going up a chute but if the sun hits the top or the slope I get to the side. Read the surface if it looks like an egg shell or open cracks it has moved and will move again, another clue if you can hear water running under the snow the top of the slope is melting and you have no clue what the slope is holding onto. Just be very safe as you travel into these areas ,

The next storm will cover what is risky now and makes conditions another level higher . Thanks Doug


Always forget 90% of avalanches are caused by what?

Second thing I forget they hardly ever move uphill,

Third they are faster than a hairygoat,

And last, You get about 15 minutes.

I agree with Doug’s warning. That section of the bowl is pretty steep and primed to slide if the conditions are right.

Thanks Labgloves for confirming the slide on Sat.
Here’s the boulder I think you’re referring to. It’s about the size of a suitcase;

Hi Rick,
It is a nice post.
The west Bowl is more dangerous that main/south or east facing Bowl,I think.
When my friends and I traversed the west Bowl last Friday, the snow was wet and soft and very unstable after 11:00pm. We traversed very quickly without siturbing the trail, just in case. I have seen many hikers start to hike late in the morning and rush to go home quickly to take a short cut.
It is important to check the snow condition and general weather condition of mountain.
Mt. Baldy is a boring mountain for many people but everthing happens here at Mt. Baldy,too.

Shin

P.S.
Rick, try a blue colored helmet. The color blue is a shrinking color.

Graham, nice pictures of the boulder. I believe that IS the one I was referring too.

We were pretty far away and could only watch as it tumbled down (serenaded by a chorus of "ROCK" calls). It probably passed within 20 feet of at least 5 hikers.

Team Subaru reporting in (it's great having my car back!).

We are the party halfway up in the pics directly next to the slide. My opinion based on what we observed while ascending as well as when the avalanche was triggered is that the heavy wet snow on the surface was between 6 inches and 2 feet deep and was not bonded to a hard icy layer beneath. When these guys glissaded they went straight down without stopping. The first guy began sloughing a lot of snow that wasn't terribly problematic. The second person followed relatively closely behind and built upon the slough the first person created. About halfway down too much snow began sliding and the weight of the surface snow moving triggered down to the icy layer and it all let loose.

I first shouted avalanche without terrible urgency as it appeared to be just a major snow slough without consequence, however a few seconds later it fully triggered and we began to shout as loud as possible. These guys were very close to being completely buried and were very lucky.

Our party discussed the slide and conditions and reevaluated our ascent path. We determined that we were in a not-desirable location, however our risk of triggering a slide was much lower than someone glissading or ski-cutting the slope. We opted to not continue straight up and cut left at about a 45 degree angle to slightly less steep terrain. We had discussed the risk of wet slides at the ski-hut prior to heading up based on conditions we had observed.

The cornice at the top is quite small in reality, although the pictures make it appear larger than it really is. The risk with that section of the bowl is: the slope angle, poorly bonded buried layer, heavy wet layer on top. More sections of that slope are likely to slide given a significant enough trigger. I don't believe someone hiking up is as likely to trigger it as someone coming down and moving enough snow on the surface. Glissading and skiing/boarding in that area are most likely to trigger another slide.

On a side note, I highly recommend taking an avy 1 course to anyone who has not done so. I think a lot of people out here take our "lower" avalanche risks for granted, however the decision making skills you learn in this course are invaluable.

Oh Man...that's all that needs be said....bona fide! Thanks Doug

Thanks Shin, but I like the “fat head look” it’s got that special.....well you know....character

Nice to meet you Scott, Sonja, and Bruno…congrats on the pre-barbie post-holing Thanks for the reminder, I still need to take an avy and/or snow course