Valanga

Glen Lake

Arden FeldmanBitterroot
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Quick report

We found generally thin conditions in the Glen Lake area today. The primary hazards were hitting thinly buried rocks and logs, and skiing the difficult breaker crust conditions. The persistent slab problem is isolated, and its sensitivity is decreasing. 

Weather

Air Temp
25
Cloud Cover
clear
Wind Loading
light
Recent Snowfall
6
Snow Avail For Transport
small smounts

It was a beautiful day with clear skies, mostly calm winds, and cool temperatures.

Snowpack

There was 1-2" of new snow from Friday night and Saturday resting on a breakable crust everywhere we traveled today. Even upper elevation north aspects had a thin breakable crust under the recent snow, making skiing difficult. The new snow was only lightly wind affected. We did not observe any signs of instability in the new or old snow. 

We dug a snowpit on a northeast aspect at 8100 feet and found a mostly faceted snowpack with several buried crusts. An extended column test did not produce any results (ECTX). The slab above the basal facets has faceted significantly and reduced the likelihood of triggering a persistent slab avalanche. I suspect there are only isolated areas at upper elevations where the problem remains. 

 

Avalanche

We observed an old, previously reported persistent slab avalanche that likely failed near the beginning of December.