Tamarack Peak

We toured in the Tamarack Peak area today to see how the snowpack is reacting to the new storm load.  10-12 inches of new high density snow fell overnight in this area.  This new snow was ski supportable, but could easily push a ski pole through the new snow and down to the less dense basal facets on the ground.  We had our first whumpfing sounds right pass the trailhead in some low angle northerly terrain.  As we moved up in elevation along the East Ridge of Tamarack Peak, we had full slope scale collapses with long shooting cracks.  These collapses occured in non-avalanche terrain from the weight of a skier causing failure of the basal facets on NW-N-NE aspects in near treeline terrain.  We also looked at East aspects and found the basal facets to be less developed, but still present and producing unstable snowpack test results.  This weak layer is still a concern moving forward until it can gain some strength and adjust to the new snow load.