Lawine

Pittsburg

Zach Guy and Evan RossGunnison
Auf der Karte ansehen
Beobachtungsfoto 1Beobachtungsfoto 2Beobachtungsfoto 3Beobachtungsfoto 4Beobachtungsfoto 5Beobachtungsfoto 6

Quick report

Cracking
Observed
Collapsing
Observed

Big storm totals!! We found dangerous conditions with easily triggered storm slabs about 20" thick. Many of these were remote or sympathetically triggered, failing on near surface facets at the storm interface.  

Breaking trail up the standard PBR route was relatively quiet underfoot, but once we got onto steeper terrain in Cabin Shot, the walls fell down, with many skier triggers, remotes, sympathetic releases, cracking, and some collapses, all breaking on the faceted storm interface about 20" deep.

Weather

Cloud Cover
overcast
Wind Loading
light
Rain Elevation
N/A
Recent Snowfall
50
Snow Avail For Transport
large amounts

Heavy snowfall rates this morning tapered midday with some intermittent heavy pulses this afternoon. Only light wind drifting where we traveled below treeline, but we could hear stronger winds aloft.

Snowpack

Around 11am, storm totals were 46cm at valley bottom near Pittsburg and around 50cm at 10,000ft. Storm instability were observable within the new snow, but the interface between the old snow and new snow was the most problematic weak layer. These facets appeared to be cooked into the crust on some due east-facing slopes and were the most problematic on the ENE and NE-facing slopes that we traveled through. 

Avalanche

Size
D1.5
Type
SS
Count
8
Aspect
NE
Trigger
AS
Elevation
9800 ft

Many skier triggered soft slabs about 20" thick, ranging from D1 to D2 depending on the terrain size. Visibility was poor, but we could see a couple of small naturals as well.