Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
On our tour of Tram Ridge today, we observed widespread wind affect as soon as we left the trailhead. Down low in the canyon, the winds were obviously swirly, but as we ascended the ridge it was clear that they had come from the west. We found many loaded pockets, sastrugi, and scoured areas as well as two notable wind slab layers. The first was found in the top 15cm of the snowpack and was quite widespread in distribution. The second was much deeper, around 60cm, and was more specific in distribution. While some cracking was noted in the shallow wind slab, the deeper wind slab was quite stubborn in our evaluation.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 7350 ft
We unintentionally triggered a small wind slab pocket today on a mid slope feature. This terrain feature is a north facing ridge drops off on the skiers right side (facing E) in a couple spots to a lower gully. The majority of this terrain is non-avalanche terrain, but there are a few pockets that are 35-40 degrees. This terrain is clearly exposed to the wind. The pocket we triggered was small, approximately 40' wide, but the depth of the crown (approximately 2.5' in spots) and the hardness of the slab was surprising to us.