Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Looking S from the top of Chair 1 at Arctic Valley (closed for the season), saw debris from multiple natural avalanches, including one in the NW gully of the Nipple and one on the same aspect on a ridge about halfway in between there and AV. Both were point releases beneath cornices, D1.5+, probably released during the night or early morning. The Nipple slide was several hundred feet long and appeared to have been limited to new snow sliding off the old harpack. The closer avalanche slid to the ground, sending debris several hundred feet to the Marston Trail. On multiple runs inbounds, on Brandy's and beneath Chair 1, the 1.5-3" of new snow broke free of the underlying firm surface in soft, wet slabs a few feet to 10' wide, above, below or to the side of turns. These were fairly slow moving but could fan out much wider and run dozens of feet. I would not tempt fate on anything steep or funneled, where slabs could go bigger, faster, run farther and make significant piles.
Avalanche
Multiple natural and skier-initiated avalanches; see field notes.