Rescue Creek

We did a post-meeting trip into Rescue Creek to check for avalanche crowns and debris from the late February avalanche cycle. 

• Debris from multiple large (D2.5) and very large natural avalanches (D3-3.5) covered most of the basin floor from about 4000 feet to well over 5500 feet. It wasn't wall-to-wall coverage, but it was a near-continuous carpet on the Nyack Mountain side. 
• We estimate most of the slides released on Feb. 28 or 29, with one - the largest - possibly releasing late in the cycle, on March 1. 
• The dry slab avalanches slides produced this debris mostly released on north- or east-facing slopes. There was one debris pile in a south-facing runout, though that may have released on an easterly part of the start zone.
• We saw almost no rollerballs and definitely no wet loose avalanches on sunny slopes. 
• Winds were actively blowing snow around on the upper reaches of Nyack Mountain. 

We enjoyed a snack in the sun and the magnificence and power of the place before threading  turns through the alder on the unaffected side of the drainage and out. 

*Note: the catalogue of avalanches listed here is likely incomplete. Dates and other values are best guesses, as we didn't inspect any crowns. Basically, there was 2-3 days of natural avalanche activity in this basin involving large- very large soft and hard slab avalanches from various elevations; it's hard to determine the character without knowing the exact time the avalanches ran. 

Avalanche debris 10-20+ feet deep. On shady slopes where we traveled that weren't impacted, 15-20cm of faceting recent snow. On sunny aspects, this snow was getting wet and sticky. We did not observe surface hoar; most snow surfaces seemed kissed by the wind. At noon, the surface snow on easterly slopes along the approach was dry to slightly moist.