Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
Slopes with basal facets and depth hoar near the ground- our persistent slab problem - became unstable here in wind-sheltered terrain. There's enough ground roughness below treeline that some suspect slopes would stay put after collapsing, while several other slopes released easily with ski cuts or remote triggers. There are so many sharks in Snodgrass's upper start zones to exacerbate the consequences of even a small slide. Ski cutting was more hazardous than normal because ski penetration is to the ground, so you're skiing on rocks and stumps. I almost got caught in one small slide simply because I was dry-docking on rocks to get off the slope. Not a place I would go for fun skiing, and in hindsight, a poor choice for ski cutting.
There was minor cracking in the storm snow about 6" deep, with cracks about 1' to 3'. Once we started traveling on a northeast aspect which held old snow near the ground, shooting cracks and collapses were widespread, about 18" deep on the 11/30 facet layer (just above the ground here). The snowpack was quiet on SE to E facing slopes BTL except for localized cracking in fresh drifts from downvalley winds.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- Below valley floor
- Recent Snowfall
- 25 to 30
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
By late morning, light snowfall (S1) with a few moderate periods (S2). Winds increased this afternoon, and we could see intense snow transport occurring in more exposed terrain. On Snodgrass, we didn't encounter any drifting until we descended to more open slopes near valley floor.
Snowpack
The top 6" or so was top-heavy over low-density stellars, producing minor surface cracking. On NE aspects, fist-hard slabs were cracking and breaking about 12" to 18" deep on well-developed basal facets (up to 2mm, F hard, 11/30 layer).
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- SS
- Count
- 3
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 10800 ft
Almost got caught in this one because it broke a little wider than expected and I was dry docking on rocks to get off it. In hindsight, poor conditions to ski cut.