Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
See instability observations above. Temperature inversion: 8° F at canyon floor and 28° F in the morning. Inversion eroded throughout the day and valley temperature increased. A tale of two snowpacks today. Strong winds in JFS Canyon overnight and today created hard wind slabs along ridges at upper elevations. We experienced two audible collapses and observed shooting cracks up to 40 feet in length near the top of the ridge (around 6900 feet). It didn't avalanche because of the low slope angle. This was no ordinary wind slab cracking near our skis. This was a hard wind slab sitting on top of very weak snow. At mid-elevations on sunny aspects, we were able to trigger small wet loose avalanches on steep test slopes.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 8
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Avalanche
We were able to trigger small D1 wet loose avalanches on southerly aspects around 5600 feet (see image of debris). Above this elevation, the snow was still cold and dry.