Quick report
With plans to ski the Sahale Glacier, we carried skis up the road until finding continuous snow. We transitioned at around 3,800', about 1/4 mile past the road’s end. Several days of very warm weather had clearly impacted the snowpack, with numerous large to very large avalanches observed, many within the past 24 hours, and some having happened during our tour. The steep, rocky terrain leading to the Pass stood out to us, with widespread glide cracks and water running beneath the snow. We turned around before peak daytime warming. Overall, it was a beautiful day in the mountains, but required attention to the snowpack. There was notable large to very large wet avalanche activity across the area. Snow was already soft and unsupportable early in the day, and glide cracks and releases were visible on most large slopes. On our descent, we triggered a few shallow wet loose avalanches, but the main concern was moving through steep, rocky terrain during the exit off the Pass.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Warm and sunny with scattered cumulus clouds in the afternoon.
Avalanche
Multiple large to very large (D2-D3) glide avalanches were spotted around Boston Basin, Sahale, and Johannesburg. Most appeared to have happened within the last 24 hours. We also found a smaller (D1.5) glide that released around 4,500' as we climbed from the Cascade River Road to the Pass.