Northern Elkhorns

Here are the pertinent observations taken from my ski tour in the Northern Elkhorns today. There was approximately 8”-9” of new snow at the trailhead that had fallen since Saturday, late afternoon. It was cloudy, windy, and snowing about an inch per hour the entire time I was in the field. I observed 6” of new snow back at the trailhead by mid afternoon. Winds were moderate, mostly out of the northwest. The strongest winds were observed between 7500’ - 8000’ . The wind seemed to taper off in the afternoon. Temperature in the alpine was in the mid twenties. Temperatures at the trailhead near 7000’ were 30 - 31 degrees. I was skiing northeast, north, and northwest facing slopes between 7600’ and 8600’ . For the most part, the snow was deep, dense, and wind affected. I estimate that there is 70-80 centimeters of new snow that has accumulated in the area of my tour since March 6th, which was the last time I was in this particular area. My goal today was to reacquaint myself with the snowpack. Because we have received copious amounts of new snow accompanied by copious amounts of wind, I was definitely traveling conservatively on low angle terrain. I basically tiptoed my way around, keeping myself out of harms way while assessing snow stability. While doing some ski cuts on inconsequential steep terrain features, I was easily able to intentionally trigger small slab avalanches in the upper 10” of the snowpack. The first test slope avalanche (intentionally triggered) occurred on a steep, convex northeast facing terrain feature at 8500’ . The avalanche type was a wind slab. The second test slope avalanche was intentionally triggered at around 8000’ on a steep, convex, northwest facing terrain feature. This small intentionally triggered test slope avalanche was a windslab avalanche as well. My overall impression of stability for today is that, not surprisingly, stability is poor at this time.

Quick report