Winter 2011 Avalanche Activity in Western Newfoundland and Labrador

This page is sponsored by the Canadian Avalanche Foundation (CAF) who has provided funding for avalanche awareness in Newfoundland since 2007.   3rd Annual CAF Silent Auction and Slideshow

More Newfoundland Avalanche Safety Videos                     MORE AVALANCHE INFO FOR NEWFOUNDLAND

Mountain Reports Winter 2011 These are sent in by anyone who sees anything out there or in the case of Andrew Stokes (see below) who has done some tests and has seen nothing reactive so far. If you would like to contribute please email at knicol@swgc.mun.ca

Unlike the mountains of B.C., Alberta and the Gaspe area of Quebec, in Newfoundland we have NO avalanche bulletins which are published to let the backcountry users know about snow conditions. So if you see avalanches in your travels it would be useful to record their location (from a GPS receiver if possible), date if known, avalanche size and if people were buried. Send information to my email at knicol@swgc.mun.ca 

First entry for January 2011 comes from Kenny Tuach

We saw the avalanches on Friday Jan 21st of January, on the north side of the Blow Me Down headwall (across from Candlelite Bay Inn).

We went to do an ice climb. The slides were pretty small (3m x 15m x 6``-1``) as we were in a tight gully.

Didn't think to take a picture.

Next entry is from Gerry Rideout in Labrador City. This slide occurred on Jan 25 on Smokey Mtn, the local ski hill in Lab City.  It occurred on the run that isn't used that often.

Next entry is from Andrew Stokes-Feb 13, 2011

Keith,

Have not got around to sending along any info regarding avalanche info this season despite having been out numerous times. Mainly, I have not seen much activity or problematic layers at all. I've only been in the area near Blow Me Down Falls so not sure how Gros Morne is doing. Wondering if anybody has seen any activity that way?

We have been seeing a uniform, well-bonded snowpack that has been averaging about 240-270cm in lee aspects. So far no Ruchblock tests have been giving any failure. There has been considerable wind loading in spots but smaller slabs seem fairly unreactive, wouldn't chance any larger, obvious slabs though. Have not seen any cornice failures yet but they are getting bigger (getting closer to the breaking point?) So far the skiing this season has been phenomenal! The snow has been consistently deep and soft. I would highly recommend people get out and enjoy the conditions, with proper safety equipment and knowledge of course!

 Cheers,

Andrew Stokes

Next entry is from Mike McCarthy about the Lewis Hills - Feb 17, 2011

We saw some avalanches in the Lewis Hills. As you can see in the images below one was triggered by someone standing on a cornice and another by a snowmobile that got rolled some distance by the avalanche. No one was hurt in either event. It was a beautiful day in the hills with loads of powder. We are staying off the larger slopes since they look ready to go.

Next Entry is from Darroch Whitacker about the Tablelands in Gros Morne Park- Feb 21, 2011

Keith, As I mentioned in our course today we saw evidence of a series of 5-10 avalanches along Southwest Gulch in Gros Morne this weekend. Most of them were small, though one may have approached a size 2. Not sure of the exact cause (should have taken your avalanche course a week earlier!) but they occurred all along the section from the pond below the SW Gulch cabin to Pic a Tenerife (see  map below), and were on the West side where the wind blows off the Tablelands. This whole section was rimmed with large cornices  so they may have resulted from cornice drops or perhaps wind deposited snow below the rim. They seemed to be a few days old which would have meant they came down around Feb 16-17.

Best
Darroch

Next entry was sent in by Wade Butler on March 6, 2011

I was riding on North Arm Hills on Saturday, March 5 and there was no signs of major avalanches but there was 1 (one) small one to the right of the bowl. I didn't take any pics or any bearings of it but its in the same area where I have seen larger ones before.

March 20, 2011 From Mike McCarthy - Lewis Hills

We saw some snowmobile triggered slides in secret bowl in the Lewis Hills and we saw evidence of a huge slide (date unknown) that took out some trees below Hinds Pond. Sorry no pics of that. This was on a south facing slope.

March 20, 2011 Darren Martin from the Lewis Hills- Darren is the manager at Marblewood Village Resort who helps sponsor the Silent Auction we run to raise money for the CAF

Hello Keith,- Great to hear of the money raised.  Speaking of avalanches we witnessed two last weekend into Lewis Hills....one was fairly large.  No one was hurt but a buddy had a nervous ride down the hill with the avalanche pushing him along.....

Thanks and talk soon, Darren

March 22, 2011 From Keith Nicol and Rick Wheeler in the North Arm Hills

We saw evidence of a small avalanche to the right of the bowl--likely in the same area as Wade Butler (above) saw one on March 6. 2011. hard to tell how old but it appeared to be fairly fresh although it had snowmobile tracks through it. New snow came down on Friday night March 18 so perhaps it came down then or on Saturday March 19 or Sunday March 20. This slope has a south aspect. We also saw lots of well developed surface hoar form the last few clear cold nights and that might prove to be a problem down the road since any new snow on top may not bond well to the surface hoar. The surface hoar crystals were easily 1 cm long in places.

April 1, 2011 from Rick Wheeler in the Lewis Hills-

Here are some pics of a large avalanche with a crown fracture in excess of 15 feet in many places. It snapped off trees and the blocks of snow are the size of cars. It occurred on March 30 and apparently was triggered by a snowmobiler who must have been very luck to escape. We also saw another smaller avalanche on the same trip.It likely came down on the same day (March 30).