Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>There were two recent natural avalanches we could see evidence of on our tour (pictures below). The first looked like a hard slab that could have been on our persistent weak layer while the other appeared to be a soft slab within the storm snow. There were two collapses on our tour. The first was very large and led to some prominent cracking that my party was surprised didn't lead to a slide in an over 30 degree area just below where we were skinning (pictures below). Earlier in the storm there were some strong south/southwest winds which led to some scouring on those aspects and some wind loading on the opposite leeward aspects (pictures below). The poor structure still exists as evidenced by the large collapsed my party witnessed. The most actionable red flag is the poor snowpack structure. The wind slabs did not seem too touchy and are probably in the process of bonding. Also, the new snowfall appears to be bonding well within the new snow layers and at the interface of the new/old snow. </p>
Recent natural hard slab avalanche that possibly failed on our persistent weak layer. This is on a north aspect.
Soft slab avalanche that occurred during the storm. This is on a northwest aspect.
Some of the prominent cracking that occurred from the collapse my party witnessed.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>For the most part there aren't any obvious signs of this avalanche problem. However, on the tour today we did witness two collapses (one was very large) and some prominent cracking.</p> <p>There was also a recent hard slab natural avalanche that looks like it could have failed on our PWL. </p> <p>Things are stabilizing in the new snow but the storm just stopped so I'll be letting it settle for a day or two before I don't consider this as an avalanche problem any longer.</p>
Really lovely right side up storm snow. Super low density snow on the surface and higher density snow lower down made for relatively easy travel despite the quantity of new snow (30+ inches). Even here in the Tushars which get wind hammered the snow was only slightly wind affected in open areas and still skied great.
On solar aspects the snow did get a little damp despite the cold temps. Also some solar aspects were somewhat thin in spots due to wind scouring and sun.