Terrible news. Hope the others get out safely.
Here's a link to the archived CAC avalanche forecast, with relevant sections pasted below:
www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/archive/south-columbia/27032
South Columbia
Date Issued Saturday, 15 January 2011 06:00 PM
Valid Until Tuesday, 18 January 2011 06:00 PM
Next Update Sunday, 16 January 2011 06:00 PM
S. Selkirks & S. Monashees
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Sunday Monday Tuesday
Alpine 4 High 4 High 3 Considerable
At Treeline 4 High 4 High 3 Considerable
Below Treeline 4 High 3 Considerable 2 Moderate
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Avalanche Problem
Wind Slab
Strong to extreme westerly winds will accompany the approaching series of storms. Very touchy wind slabs exist on mainly north to east aspects.
Storm Snow
Significant amounts of new storm snow will accumulate through the forecast period. Warm temperatures will weaken the new storm snow.
Persistent Slab
Several weak layers cause concern for deeper releases within the snowpack. There is the possibility for step-down avalanches to pull out lower weak layers.
Special Message
Storms are still rolling in off the Pacific. Any lulls in the stormy weather will be short-lived and will not give the snowpack sufficient time to recover from the rapid loading taking place.
Confidence: Fair
Uncertainty with snowfall amounts and freezing levels.
Weather Forecast
Sunday and Monday: Stormy conditions with 20-30cm possible each day. Moderate to strong SW winds. Freezing levels rising as high as 1800m.
Tuesday: Light snowfall. Freezing levels falling to valley bottom
Avalanche Activity
Large natural and human-triggered avalanches occurred on all aspects and all elevations on Friday. Mostly the avalanches have been running in the new storm snow. Frequently, avalanches have been running to the limit of normal runout zones. There have been isolated reports of avalanches stepping down to lower weak layers within the snowpack, resulting in very large avalanches.
Snowpack
Around 80-100 cm of new snow has now fallen in the last three days. There are several short-lived instabilities within this new snow. A layer of facets and/or surface hoar lies buried around 60cm down and is producing moderate resistant shears. Several lower weak layer, including the Dec-07 surface hoar/facet/sun crust layer (now down more than a metre) and a rain crust from early November, still exist within the snowpack but are now bonding due to the additional load.
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