Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>A day looking at both natural and explosive triggered avalanche activity from the past few days. </p>
Looking down along the flank of one of the slides we looked at. While connected to steeper terrain to the side, this section pulled out on to lower angle terrain - measured less than 30 degrees in sections. I feel that while slides will very gradually get harder to trigger, the general pattern now is "if it's going to go, it goes to the ground". Other patterns seem harder to find - some slides break low on the slope, another slide broke from one side up and over the ridge line. One slope will slide, the next with similar elevation, aspect and loading doesn't.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The same almost state-wide story of widespread basal facets/depth hoar on almost all aspects and elevations. While there may have been a period of new snow avalanches during the storm cycle, the large slides we looked at today all failed on facets near the ground. Slides were on many aspects - on northerly facing slopes, but also east and southeasterly facing slopes. Weak depth hoar also exists in places on westerly facing slopes, which may eventually get enough of a snow load to get in on the action.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the avalanches here seem to only be failing on the upper part of the depth hoar layer. With the rest of the depth hoar still left on the the bed surface, this could be a set up for the slide paths to avalanche again once they get loaded with more snow.</p>
Generally, cold dense supportable surface snow, great turning and riding, including on low angle slopes. Some crusts on west - maybe from sun yesterday or rime today? Shady lower elevations to about 6,900' had just a few inches of dense snow over the rain crust, fairly thick and supportable at 6,900'. A trace to maybe a half inch of moderately rimed new snow fell from a few squalls during the day.