Blackrock Creek/CD trail

Observed several small, natural avalanches south of the highway while teaching an avalanche awareness course. All avalanches occured on sheltered and wind loaded very steep slopes above 38 degrees. Although these slopes frequently avalanche, it paints a clear picture that the snowpack is unstable. These avalanches are failing on the new to old snow interface (or old snow on the ground). The weak, sugary snow from early season is being stressed by the load  of 10-12" of new snow and nearly 1" SWE over the last several days.  See snowpack section for more details. 

Thin and low snow coverage still exists! We stuck primarily to snowmobile trails. Access to zones off trail or higher elevation terrain is challenging with the high potential of hitting obstacles below the new snow surface. Caution is warranted. We found signs of wind loading on open and exposed terrain above 9000'. More wind loading and unstable conditions are likely in higher elevation terrain (Angle, Breccia, Two Oceans).  

Digging in the snow today we found the bottom half of the snowpack comprised of 1-2mm weak, sugary facets. This old snow is uniform and continous across terrain above at least 8500', meaning that the majority of the terrain at Togwotee has a poor snowpack foundation (less continuity likely on steep southerly slopes). We did not get propagation in our snowpit due to lack of a firm, cohesive slab within the new snow. Higher likelihood of finding different results on wind loaded terrain where firmer new snow exists.