Avalanche Bowl

With up to 40 cm new snow in the past 72 hours, and a newly buried MFcr layer from the 20231205 warm up day, we are getting a false sense of security regarding the lower layers of facet and crust combos deeper in the snow pack. HS in the 8800' to 9200' NE facing zones on the south side of the pass are now up to 140 cm in places, which is a lot more volume than we had just 5 days ago. The consequence of our current snowpack is increasing. The recent humidity/MFcr that formed on the warmer day 20231205, has now created a 1 cm thick melt freeze crust that lies approximately 40 cm below the new snow from the past few days 12/07 through 12/10. This MFcr is now bridging over the top of the very weak snowpack that lies below. Previous to the formation of this MFcr, I was getting consistent propagation in snow pits on the Nov drought and crust layers lying near the basement of our snowpack (20 to 35 cm up from the ground). Today we were nearby a skier triggered avalanche event in Avalanche bowl, which we proceeded to go investigate. Looking at this slide (photos attached) proves to me that this upper crust layer can be permeated easily, and the weaker basement of our snowpack can be triggered, especially on slopes greater than 30 degrees in slope angle. I suspect we will see the upper crust layer from the 20231205 warming event, break down in the next week or so, and when it does, beware, our persistent weak layers below will likely become even easier to trigger.

Quick report

Avalanche