Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
We skied the SE couloir off the top of Litchen East. Snow was wet until around 4900', where it started to become more like moist packed powder. Around 5400' we started to observe small cracking while skinning on wind loaded slopes. The snow was still quite moist even on the summit at about 5700'. Despite the moisture, it was good skiing down the couloir all the way to the bottom, becoming less good around 4900'. Below the base of the couloir, about 4200', the snow became very sticky and the coverage was very low. At 3600' and below the snow was as sticky as pollen. The pack seemed very solid all the way from the top down (5700' to 3400'). Not even small wet looses were set off by anyone in our party. No cracking or whumping was observed either on the descent.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- WL
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 5450 ft
On the ski down we saw two wet loose avalanches, one with a crown around 5450' and a runout around 5350'. The other was around 4700' with a runout not far down. The first initiated on a steeper slope to the west side of the couloir, and the second initiated in the couloir at a steep section. Both ran down the couloir until meeting trees or a flat.