Valanga

Norse Peak / Lake Basin

Avalanche.org observerWest Slopes South
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Quick report

We experienced a potpourri of snow conditions on our tour but did not observe or experience any active instability. Evidence of wet-loose activity was everywhere, particularly below exposed or thinly covered rocks, independent of aspect, but we saw no signs of recent or present instability. We had challenging skiing on the E aspect of Norse Peak above 6200' with a mixture of supportable and breakable crust, but both N and S aspects in the Saddle Chutes area were enjoyable skiing in soft snow. (That said, there were some E-W wind textured features discernible belong the upper 8-10" layer of soft snow in the chutes.) On our return, we descended "Solar Slab" from the ridge line that connects Platinum and East Peaks, and it was thick breakable crust from 6600' down to 5500'. The snow on the N aspects of Saddle Chutes was exceptionally gloppy when we set the skin track up from the lake just after noon, accumulating on our skins, and the snow above the Bullion approach (~5500') was mush (a welcome reprieve from the breakable crust...) when we were returning to the resort around 3:30.

Avalanche

We saw crowns from older (presumably natural) avalanches that broke E from the ridge line between Scout Pass and Norse Peak. Debris was visible below, covered by some amount of recent snow. The crowns looked to be 2-3' high.