Quick report
Observed multiple hard slab avalanches that ran sometime in the previous 24 hours on the west face of Running Rabbit Mountain. Also two, D2 size wet loose events on the south face of Running Rabbit that ran 1500-2500 vertical feet. See avalanche tabs. No recent avalanches observed yet on more shady aspects at upper elevations. Thick fog kept me from viewing any distant upper elevation from West Glacier until I was just west of Essex. Wet loose avalanche and slab avalanche activity on the Canyon floor has mostly ended. The snowpack here appears to have adjusted to the warming and has begun draining water as it is rapidly melting.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Daytime high temps reached 50 deg F on the Canyon floor and into the 40s up at 6000-7000 feet elevation
Avalanche
- Size
- D2.5 R3
- Type
- HS
- Count
- 4
- Aspect
- W
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 7000 ft
3 separate hard slab avalanches, R2-4 and D2-3 in size, crowns 400-600' wide. Many details are estimated at this point. Hope to investigate more this week. This path threatens Highway 2. Debris terminated well above the highway. We suspect the failure layer was the FCs on top the late-Dec crust