Quick report
We rode from the westside trailhead, up to the warming hut and investigated most sides of the hill behind the hut. 6-8 inches of snow fell overnight, snow depths ranged from 12 inches at the TH to 4 feet at 6,500ft. It rained. And rained all day at all elevations we travelled. W-SW winds were moderate all day with strong gusts. The entire snowpack below 6,000 feet was saturated, and above 6,000 feet a supportive crust seemed to be catching most of the free water. 4-8 inches of old early season snow was present on N aspects starting around 5,800ft, E aspects starting at 6,000 ft, and on S and W aspects starting around 6,200ft. We dug a pit on a SW aspect at 6,200 feet, and found tests to fail suddenly with light to moderate force on top of the old snow. The failures did not propagate, but suspect they would have if the old snow was harder(which it may be on N aspects). We travelled cautiously, and suspect instability was rapidly rising throughout the day.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- U
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 6800 ft
Numerous D1 - 1.5 were observed on N-E aspects above 6,800 feet. We only saw 2 due to visibility issues, but other parties at the trailhead reported that these were wide spread above Lake Elsina. New snow running on the supportive crust.