Quick report
- Collapsing
- isolated
This was an off-duty tour to look at the amount of new snow, the extent of new wind slab development, and the sensitivity of new slabs.
I traveled through large amounts of untouched terrain. I experienced two very small collapses involving fresh, stiff wind drifts sitting on crusts. I pushed on steep, wind loaded slopes with no results.Weather
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-15?
Skies opening around Smiley Creek in the mid morning, allowing for some direct sun. Cloud cover increased south of Galena Peak on my drive south to Ketchum, but by the time I was heading back north (around noon) cloud cover had decreased significantly in the Boulders. Direct sun in the Boulders and Smokys lasting until around 1500, with cloud cover increasing and occasional flurries arriving in the afternoon. Best guess on storm snow is 10-15cm, but it was hard to tell with confidence due to amount of wind transport. Winds were blowing at moderate speeds out of the SW throughout my afternoon tour.
Snowpack
The 10-15cm of new snow was actively melting into the crusts below and baking on. There was a relatively narrow window of time in the afternoon (1300-1500) when pushing loose wet avalanches involving the new snow would have been easy in steep, solar terrain.
The wind slabs I encountered were well-bonded and unreactive to ski cuts, even on slopes steeper than 40.