Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
We experienced cracking at 6600ft, NE, 200ft below a ridge. This occurred on small convexities >35 degrees on an otherwise well-supported, leeward slope. Cracks were 20cm deep in wind-drifted slabs from 12/28.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- 3600ft
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-12
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
No blowing snow today, but plenty of evidence (under the new snow) from yesterday.
Snowpack
At 6350ft: height of snow 160cm, HN24 ~15cm. The Solstice crust was 73cm below the surface. Hasty pit revealed right-side-up layering above the crust. Hand shears produced moderate to hard results, Q2 (planar, wavy, not super clean) on an interface ~10cm above the Solstice crust (12/22 interface?).
As mentioned above, on a leeward slope at 6,500-6,800ft, below a ridge, we found wind-drifted slabs that formed on the 28th. These were under 10cm of new snow. This was on a similar aspect and elevation, though a much lower-angle slope, to where the cornice-fall avalanches occurred.
At 5,800, NE in treed terrain, small slabs (15cm deep, 30cm wide) broke adjacent to a skier's tracks landing on a 40-degree slope. This was the only indicator of instability in wind-sheltered terrain.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- NC
- Elevation
- 6680 ft
We saw a series of D2 cornice fall triggered avalanches that occured 12/28, and some D1 cornice falls from this morning that did not initiate avalanches. Similar to the cracking listed above, we triggered a very small, D1, wind slab avalanche (20cm deep, 1.5 meters wide, ran 10 vertical feet) on a small convexity in the same location.