Weather
Windy. The day after receiving 3-6 inches of snow with very high sustained winds
Snowpack
I haven't been on the north face in a few weeks, but typical of north park snow pack, there is always a weak layer of depth hoar. I noticed the avalanche from my cabin approximately 2 miles away. Looking at the slide with binoculars, the crown looks to be about 75 meters wide at the top and 120 meters wide near the base of the slide with a depth of 2-3 feet. The slide ran for about 200 meters into the trees. I cannot see how much further the slide went. I cannot see bare ground, and don't know which layer it slid on. This is a peak that I ski regularly and have only seen this face slide one other time in 15 years. The interesting thing is that this slide slid identically and under the same conditions of the previous slide about 8 years ago.