Quick report
We observed signs of wind scour and wind loading through our travel into the alpine. Various zones held really nice, light pow, while other areas consisted of wind board and breakable wind crust. We were wary of N and NE aspects containing heavily wind loaded snow, so dug throughout our travel into the upper elevations to assess. I’d read of 40cm wind slabs propagating in ECTs, but our ECTs did not identify energy needed to propagate this slab. While able to identify this layer, with it shearing below the warm/rain crust from last week, this layer was non reactive in our tests. The rain crust also seemed to disappear above 7800 feet, where a more uniform snowpack could be identified. Snow depths at this elevation also greatly exceed lower elevations, with depths ranging to a full or 1.5 probe lengths (although very much so influenced by our recent storm pattern and wind loading).
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Aspect
- N
- Elevation
- 7000 ft
Saw the debris and slide path of a recent avalanche off the flanks of North Sister at about 7000 feet on a northerly facing aspect. Cause unknown, although slide seemed to originate near a point at the crest of the small face. Crown appeared to be 6-10 inches, although difficult to see from a distance. No other slide activity noted.