Valanga

Blue Lake/Early Winters

John BarkhausenEast Slopes North
Vedi sulla mappa

Quick report

Collapsing
isolated

We saw two old (probably less than a day old) slides and experienced numerous collapses. Small test slopes didn't produce much movement unless they were really unsupported. Experienced 4-5 whumphs on uptrack, seemed to be the failure of either the interface between old surface and this last storm, or facets on top of the late January/early February crust. We dug a pit after experiencing the collapses and saw both layers, facets seemed to be rounding a bit. Got a CT13SP on the facets above the crust, and an ECTP18 on the interface. We didn't see any facets or surface hoar on the interface, but they could have been there and we just missed them.

Weather

Air Temp
15-20F
Cloud Cover
broken
Wind Loading
moderate
Recent Snowfall
30-40cm
Snow Avail For Transport
large amounts

Intermittent sun but mostly cloudy. Snow moved in and out throughout the day, with little accumulation.

Snowpack

About 40cm of soft new snow sat on 20cm slightly firmer older snow. The EFC was buried about 60cm down, with rounding facets above the crust.

Avalanche

Size
D1.5
Type
SS
Count
2
Aspect
S
Trigger
AS
Elevation
6500 ft

Observed from across the valley. We could see ski tracks going into it, so I assume it was skier triggered.