Storm Mountain Firebreak

With avalanche conditions being very scary right now, we decided to check out a low-commitment, relatively safe area off Storm Mountain in Kootenay National Park.

The Storm Mountain Firebreak was created during the forest fires of 2003. The idea was that a 50m gap in the trees would prevent the fire from spreading from one side of the break to the other. Apparently, it worked, as there were no signs of fire damage on the "other" side.

We found a couple of uptracks leading to our destination (the top of the firebreak), and chose the one that wound its way through the forest. Even with the decent amount of snow, there were still many logs and branches sticking out of the snow. I'd be concerned about skiing the area for fear of hooking my skins under a root. It was a bit surreal.

One run done, going back up for another

The firebreak itself is quite strange. It's like someone developed a ski run in the middle of nowhere, with no infrastructure to support it. There were signs of earlier parties having already skied some lines, but we didn't see any of them so they probably left after one run.

Random ski run

The snow was a bit choppy and there were a couple of crusts, as expected. We did one run, and as it was still early in the day, we decided to skin up for a second run before heading back home.

Slide off of Mount Whymper

During our second run, Ray noticed a large slide coming off of Mount Whymper. We had not heard any blasts, so it was probably a natural avalanche. I would estimate it at around a size 3, although I don't have much experience in gauging such things.

A couple of seconds later, pulled back a bit to give perspective with the road below

It was the biggest natural slide I'd ever seen, and I spent a few seconds gawking at it before remembering to pull the camera out for a couple of photos. I'm not proud of my reaction time.

The next day, the Mountain Conditions Report stated that they would be doing avalanche control on Mount Whymper, so hopefully they'll be able to clean things up a bit for the safety of the roads.

The snow is having trouble settling so it's not clear how long it will be before things calm down again in the backcountry. Be safe out there!