Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>South winds were blowing large plumes of snow off the high peaks, especially earlier in the day. The winds are back and there is plenty of light density snow available for transport. Look for North facing terrain to be freshly loaded once again. </p>
Lots of slides observed today. Notice the trees in the last photo. Snow is plastered on the uphill sides well above our heads. We saw a lot of large trees that were knocked over by these slides.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>We saw several avalanches today from the new years eve cycle that ran on the facets at the ground. This was a very impressive cycle. The slides observed today face NW through NE. Most (not all) were in very steep rocky terrain. All starting zones showed evidence of significant wind loading. The bottom line is that it took a combination of all the snow that fell, plus additional wind loading to push the depth hoar past its breaking point resulting deep, devastating avalanches. With that loading event three days behind us, I agree that we are entering a period of stabilization. Natural avalanches are unlikely, and human triggering is still possible. Signs of instability will not be obvious right now. We traveled mainly on slopes facing N and E and did not get any cracking or collapsing. We kept our slope angles low, and/or stuck to dense trees. </p> <p>Moderate winds from the south were transporting snow onto northerly aspects. Winds are forecast to remain in the 15-30 mph range (enough to move snow) and shift to the West tomorrow. </p>
We traveled mainly on the shady side of the compass today. Occasionally we crossed solar aspects and noted a thin sun crust on the snow surface.