Quick report
- Cracking
- widespread
Signs of instability include the observance of shooting cracks near and above tree line. Also, small avalanches easily triggered on steep, leeward terrain features near and above tree line. I observed 12”-16” of new snow since my ski tour in the same area 48 hours ago. At the location of today’s snow pit, there is now 45cm’s of new snow sitting atop of the uppermost (8” thick) crust that formed earlier this month. Instability tests performed today were unremarkable. The weakest layer was 8” below the snow surface on a density change within the newest snow (CT4RP). Extended Column Test failed on the 19th tap 45cm’s down at the top of the recent melt freeze crust, no propagation observed. Height of snow at this location was 295 cm’s (over 9’). At this snow pit location, located at 8250’ , the 2/1 rain crust is down about 155cm’s. Throughout the day I observed moderate to strong south and southeast winds accompanied by copious amounts of new snow. Snow was falling at the rate of 1-2 cm’s per hour throughout the day. In my opinion, stability was poor due to the strong winds and new load of storm snow.
Avalanche
Avalanche occurred this afternoon near Anthony Lakes ski area on a north, northeast aspect at about 8200’ on a wind loaded convex terrain feature steeper than 35 degrees. Avalanche was intentionally triggered on a small, inconsequential test slope. No one was caught in this avalanche. Avalanche was about 30’ wide at the crown. The avalanche was 8” thick near the crown and failed at a density change within the new snow. SS-AS-c—R1-D1-S