Quick report
I ventured onto the South side of Dunderberg Peak today to get an idea of how solar aspects are looking and to see if I could find any recent wind deposits following our recent north winds. Temperatures were warmer, and the winds were lower than I expected today, making for a beautiful spring-like day in the hills. The lower flanks of the approach are very thin, with some necessary dry land travel. Surfaces would be summed up well as variable, though all in all, I found travel to be predictable and pleasant. Surfaces ranged from sun-warmed and supportable wind board (BP = 5-10 cm), breakable wind board (BP = 50-80 cm), to about 4" of loose snow on top of a hard crust (BP= 20-30 cm) In a few areas where the wind board was thinner, the crust was not supportable for foot travel, making for more challenging bootpacking. In these areas, boot pen was about 80 cm. (Pencil hard wind board over 4 finger facets) We triggered several small, loose, wet sluffs along the descent in areas with loose snow over the hard crust. These were noted below 10,500' on a sheltered south-facing slope. I would describe these as Reactive and Isolated due to the variability in surface snow. No other signs of instability were noted today. No fresh wind deposits were noted along my tour today. It is worth noting that the upper flanks of this slope are entirely dry.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Aspect
- S
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 10500 ft
We triggered several small Wet Loose sluffs at about 1 pm on a sheltered southern aspect below 10,500'. About 4" on top of a hard crust was noted in this area along my travels, though it's worth noting that this setup was inconsistent along my travels. No other activity was noted around the drainage.