Pierce Creek
Quick report
- Collapsing
- widespread
Spooky collapsing. Some larger collapses below the buried wet snow but most were smaller and failing at the storm snow/old snow interface.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Mid 30s, felt warmer in the sun.
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- N/app
- Recent Snowfall
- 12 inches at trailhead at 7200'
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Intermittent clouds through the morning then clearing by mid day. Temperatures started in the 20s but warmed to the mid 30s once the sun came out. Moderate winds, largely terrain driven.
Snowpack
8-12 inches of dry snow fell onto wet snow. There are two layers of concern as a result. The first is layer of melt layer recrystalization at the new snow/ old snow interface creating a melt freeze crust with facets above. We were easily able to get collapsing on this layer while skiing and skinning. The second layer of concern, less reactive but scarier is the bottom of the now buried wet snow. When it would collapse, it resulted in much louder whumfing and significant settlement.
These are tough problems to deal with today. I suspect the deeper weak layer will be short lived and once the wet snow freezes, the problem will decrease. The upper crust/facet combination may last longer but only time will tell.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- SE
- Elevation
- 6000 ft