Quick report
Today we travelled to the upper end of near tree line terrain in the Horse Creek drainage on N to E aspects. At 9800' there was around 8 to 12 inches of recent snow with 18'' plus in wind drifts. Most notable today was warming temperatures producing natural loose wet activity on easterly aspects. Two natural wind slab crowns that looked to be D2 in size were visible on N aspects above tree line near Matterhorn Peak and upper Horse Creek drainage. These wind slab avalanches appeared to have occurred earlier in recent storm since debris was covered up with fresh snow. In the near tree line terrain we travelled through we did not find any wind slab, but did not assess current presence or sensitivity of wind slab above tree line. West aspects looked to have roller ball activity from yesterday with not much fresh sign of natural activity today. Snow surface remained fairly cold and wintry on N aspects but was becoming heavy and manky on more easterly aspects.
Weather
- Air Temp
- above freezing
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 20-30 cm @9800'; 10-15 cm @8800'; 2.5 to 7.5 cm @7800'
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Mostly clear skies and calm winds. Clouds rolled in after we departed in late afternoon.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 9500 ft
Natural wet loose avalanche activity and roller balls were occurring today in the Horse Creek Drainage, primarily visible on easterly aspects. Two natural wind slab crowns from recent storm were observed above tree line on N aspects near Matterhorn Peak and in upper Horse Creek Drainage both in the D2 range.