Cement Creek - Double Top

We intentionally chose this area for fieldwork looking for a reactive and dangerous snowpack in a shallower portion of the Southeast Mountains...and we found it.  Avalanches appear to be ripe for human triggering in the 4 to 5-foot snowpack depth range.  I was surprised at the lack of recent natural avalanche activity yet we found it easy to trigger avalanches.  This area and snowpack depth might be the 'Goldilocks zone' for sensitive avalanche conditions.    

We experienced a single large collapse and remotely triggered two large avalanches on the slope below.

About 15-inch settled storm total since 3/2 (the dust interface) in the middle portion of Cement Creek around 11,000 feet.  The height of snow in sheltered terrain was around 180cm.  We measured snowpack depth in a few locations on the crowns of the remotely triggered avalanches and found depths 120 to 160cm.

In this area, the slab above the early February weak layer is around 2 feet thick and mostly 4-finger with a small amount of 1-finger hardness snow.  The early February weak layer consists of a thick layer ( a few inches thick) of 2-3mm facets capped with surface hoar.  Slab hardness and depth appear to be an ideal ratio for human-triggered avalanches.

Low elevation sunny slopes have developed soft crusts from mild temperatures the past few days with roller balls present on steeper terrain.