Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Wind affect and drifts were apparent on the valley floor and on exposed ridges. Other riders and I encountered thick drifts in middle and upper elevation terrain. Wind was moving snow in the alpine today. Cornices had nearly doubled in size overnight and were very sensitive.
Cracking in very large freshly formed cornice.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Rain Elevation
- Previous to ~8,000'
- Recent Snowfall
- 8-15 overnight
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Mostly sunny from the WRV to about Cathedral Pines. Cloudy with intermittent snowfall and patches of sun in Smiley Ck. Audible strong wind up high. Moderate wind by mid-afternoon.
Snowpack
At low elevations, ~8 cm of snow overnight sat atop a 3 cm crust. Below the crust was a mushy wet mess. Climbing in elevation, the new snow increased to about 15 cm with a storm total of ~50 cm since 2/23 at 9,000'. Storm snow had anywhere from 2-3 tightly packed crusts at middle elevations that spread apart more with elevation (photo). Hand shears and snowpack tests didn't indicate that these layers were going to pose long-term instabilities.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2.5
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 10500 ft
One very large D2.5 slab on Boulder Pk. D1.5 debris pile above Gladiator Ck. D1.5 debris pile in Smiley Ck.