Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Today we sought out a spot where the Persistent Weak Layer is still a factor- no wind board and lower snow. Lots of snow available for transport and active wind loading at ridgelines with a couble natural slides occuring. Be aware of the terrain/snowpack combo when you are planning your routes this upcoming weekend there will be a large range of avalanche risk depending on where you go, test for a wind board on expose slopes and be aware of shallow areas.
On a relatively small slope we were able to find both a wind slab and a storm slab on two different test slopes. Storm slab was breaking at the crust about 10-12cm down. Wind slab was on a small gulley's ridge.Weather
- Air Temp
- -5
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 2
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Calm in the valley floor but obvious flagging on several ridge lines/peaks. Driving back it was clear until North of Black Rapids Lodge where it began to blizzard.
Snowpack
On this leeward slope, there wasn't any windboard. Combine this with there being less snow on the North side of the range means in this setup it is still possible to affect the PWL (Persistent Weak Layer) - we got ECTP17. Check out the pictures for the wind slab that broke on a test slope and the wind slab that cracked on another.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- HS
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 4900 ft
Small pockets on either side of the valley. Storm slab on the North Aspect, Wind slab on the South.