Lawine

Iron Creek

Sean SmollenSawtooth & Western Smoky Mtns
Auf der Karte ansehen
Beobachtungsfoto 1Beobachtungsfoto 2Beobachtungsfoto 3Beobachtungsfoto 4

Quick report

No signs of persistent instability observed throughout tour. Loose wet problem types started to ramp up around 11:00am. Solar aspects froze overnight up to 9,000' @ 9:00am, though it did not take long for the March sun to soften our new surface MF crust. By 10:00am the crust was softening and due south slopes were moist at 8500'. By noon, the surface was wet at 9,000 on all exposed southerlies. Gravity was starting to take hold, snow, ice, and rockfall were prevalent throughout the afternoon. Snow bridges were failing and water was audible. Throughout my tour I avoided obvious wind affected slopes, I suspect the wind slab problem could still be reactive to human triggers. In isolated (shaded/ protected by the wind/ typically NW-N) pockets up to 9,000', 40cm of cold cohesion-less snow was still kicking around. Dry loose problem types were running at full speed on steeper slopes harboring this isolated blower.

Avalanche

Dozens of Avalanches on all aspects and elevation bands observed. Most slab AVx appeared to have ran 3/6-3/7. Loose wet problems were actively occurring (today 3/8) on southerlies at all elevation bands.