Quick report
Started my tour around 0930 under overcast skies and very light (S-1) snowfall. Upon reaching the summit around 1300 skies turned to broken, snowfall stopped, and a light wind out of the NNW was present. There was widespread strasuggi in exposed areas along ridgelines; no reactive wind slabs were observed. The most notable thing I saw was the glide cracks in Broads and Stairs Gulch. As more and more people push into these areas, the likelihood that a glide avalanche could have skier involvement increases. As the season progresses, it will be important to know when the likelihood of release increases (such as significant water percolation through/under the snowpack) and stay out of these areas.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I didn't experience any reactive wind slab on my tour but I would suspect that more protected, high elevation areas will have isolated wind slabs from the NNW winds. </p> <p>Upper Broads Fork and Stairs Gulch are riddled with glide cracks. A few appeared to have released prior to the last major storm cycle. Any involvement with one of these glide avalanches would be unsurvivable. </p>