Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- isolated
Strong east winds loaded recent snow onto west facing aspects at middle and upper elevations last night. We observed continued wind loading today as winds remained moderate and from the east. We intentionally triggered multiple small wind slabs on upper elevation west aspects. They were all in obviously wind loaded pillows, but also in unusual spots on west aspects that are typically wind stripped. In more wind sheltered terrain, the snow was wind drifted but soft. In more open terrain, the snow was hard wind board.
We intentionally triggered several small wind slabs on wind loaded west apects. We observed cracking and collapsing in wind slabs in a variety of hardnesses.Weather
- Air Temp
- Single Digits
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 60
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
The sky was overcast at the beginning of our tour and began to clear while we were out. There was moderate snowfall at the beginning of our tour that dissipated as the sky cleared. The wind was moderate and from the east. Temperatures were cold. We observed current wind loading and intense previous wind loading.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Aspect
- W
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 7700 ft
We were able to intentionally trigger several small wind slabs on west facing test slopes. They ranged from soft slabs closer to the surface to deeper, harder slabs from last night's stronger winds. They were all in obviously wind loaded pillows, but also in unusual spots on west aspects that are typically wind stripped. They were generally 6-18" deep.