Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Skied off Church Peak in the Mt. Rose area today. New snow amounts ranged from 1-2” at 6100’, to 4-6” between 7000’-8500’, to 10-16” above 8500’, with localized drifts up to 24”. It snowed throughout most of my tour, and gradually increased in intensity, peaking around 3 pm. Another 2-3” probably fell during the day. Decent wind transport was noted above 9,000’, but I didn’t notice any slab development until above 10k near the ridges. In that elevation band, I saw plenty of shooting cracks, and triggered two small wind slabs in a rocky rollover. One was triggered from 15 feet away with a crack extending from my skis to the crown. On the descent, conditions were soft, but I could still feel the crust below the new snow, except for N slopes at the uppermost elevations. On small, steep test slopes at lower and mid elevations, there was some dry loose activity, but it didn’t run very far or entrain much snow. Temps were well below freezing all day, and there was no sun affect on the snow.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 10400 ft
Two small wind slabs, in a steep, rocky area. One was triggered from about 15 feet away, with a crack shooting from my ski tips to the crown.