Quick report
Started off the day as expected with boots on ground to get to the firm slick skin track. Found variable surface conditions going up to Taylor pass and breakable crust conditions skiing a southerly face of Sunburst. Overall, we observed good stability and did not see any red flags along the route. On the wind loaded features we tested there were no shooting cracks or small avalanches. Most windward aspects were very firm prior prior winds and there was limited snow available for transport in these areas. On the SW face of Sunburst the snow surface was variable with a mix of breakable wind crust and softer snow.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 17 at car in morning
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Enjoyed clear skies and sun with little to no winds. Temps were cool but pleasant. Clouds started rolling in around sunset.
Snowpack
We dug one pit at ~3000' just below Taylor pass and two pits up at 3750' just below the Sunburst weather station. Through all of our pits at mid and upper elevations we found a generally right side up snowpack with a lack of concerning layers. We found good structure and stability with no propagating results. The crust layers from early December disappeared from the snowpack around 3000' and were not present in our upper pits.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2.5
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 2500 ft
Observed a large glide avalanche that had released recently on the east face of Twin Peaks and the crown of a large avalanche on the SW face of Kickstep.