Elk Mountain

The BNSF snow safety team spotted a hard slab avalanche on Elk Mountain Thursday, March 16. We decided to take a closer look at this slide.

• The avalanche occurred at 6600 feet on a wind-loaded east aspect. The failure layer was 10 cm thick, large-grained facets near the ground. These facets formed in November.
• The crown varied between 1.5 - 6.5 feet thick and was 150 feet wide. We believe the avalanche initiated where the crown tapered into rocks.
• The top part of the debris field consisted of large chunks of hard slab debris.
• Surprisingly, we found 2-6" of dry snow in shaded aspects at low and mid-elevations. Areas exposed to the sun softened this afternoon and skied a little like corn.

Areas exposed to the sun had a surface crust this morning, which softened by the afternoon. Slopes sheltered from the sun still hold dry, loose snow.