Conditions Report
Report from September 4, 2024
Tuesday night was windy as hell…
The wind woke me up a few times down here in town and that has happened very few times in my 14 seasons here.
I knew in the night that we’d have to downgrade our plans and be real safe out there the next day.
The wind from Tuesday delivered what I call “The Patagonian Breath,” in which it blows 40 mph in one direction, completely stops, and then blows 40 mph in the exact opposite direction.
That, combined with new snow, creates avalanche danger that is difficult to forecast and even more challenging to travel through safely.
We headed out to a zone we knew well and dug a pit.
The compression test consistently revealed failure after 10 taps from the wrist and one tap from the elbow telling me that the snowpack was ripe for a skier-triggered avalanche.
We backed off that slope, dropped lower, and hit a gully we know well.
The zone we hit is less avalanche-prone and has smaller terrain, which would ideally result in smaller avalanches if something were triggered.
We skied through the zone unscathed but didn’t feel great about anything above treeline.
The snow was weird, punchy, and windpressed.
We tucked into the trees, not expecting good snow, but found some surprisingly good fluff.
We skied low-angle terrain.
We bopped and bounced and hooted.
Eventually, the good snow ran out and it was a battle getting out of the lower bamboo forest.
We arrived at the road and called it for the day even though it was only 11 a.m.
The heating of the day was to be the next avalanche red flag.
Unfortunately, last night, we learned of a skier-triggered avalanche that caught and carried three people on Cerro López.
One person died, one person was injured, and one person was missing (somehow, this person rescued themselves from the avalanche and called 911 in the night, and they came and got him this morning early).
In all my time here, I’ve never heard of anyone getting hurt or dying in an avalanche in the backcountry.
It’s a sad day today, and our hearts go out to all involved.
Thanks, Argentina.
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