Mt. Baldy

In the areas we traveled today, avalanche problems near and above the treeline appear in places with wind-loading from the past few weeks.  Wind-loaded terrain often looks smoother, feels stiff, and is tucked into leeward features.  Many places appeared to have slabs eroded by the wind or faceted away by recent cold weather.  Human-triggered slab avalanches could be an issue on some terrain features, but many places now lack the right ingredients.

The upper snowpack on most slopes at upper elevations will not tolerate a major loading event.  If Mother Nature delivers a snowy week, then slab avalanche concerns will spread across many aspects.

We traveled across most aspects near and above treeline to better understand surface conditions, given that a loading event may occur over the next week if weather forecasts pan out.  Snow surfaces are a mix of hard slabs, windboard, and soft textured snow on the west, north, and east aspects.  All surfaces are faceted to some degree, often in the 1-2mm size range.  One profile on a northwest-facing slope above treeline showed a mostly fist-hard snowpack comprised of facets nearly a meter deep (see profile).  In the areas we traveled, future avalanche activity will largely occur at the current weak snow surface.

Sunny slopes in this area are melt/freeze crusts 1-3cm thick or windboard with fist hard facets below (1-1.5mm size).  Many features appear to have collapsible crusts, but a decent storm and/or wind loading is required to cause failure (see SE profile image).  A few areas appeared to have thin, hard slabs at the surface, but we avoided these as we descended and stuck to eroded parts of the terrain.

Hardslabs from windy weather in January have scattered slabs about leeward terrain features on various aspects.  Slabs were easily identified by their smoother textures, hard feel, and leeward locations.