Quick report
I didn't get a good look at the snow surface before it was covered today, but I was finding surface hoar near Tornak and in the Sawtooths. We didn't have any signs of instability in untraveled terrain. Previous cracking from the 1/31 AR event were observed near creek banks in the drainage bottom on some high 20*s slopes.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 3 cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Snow began around 1130 and picked up to S1-2 rates by 1230. Snow totaled about 3cm by our exit at 1500.
Snowpack
At 7,400 feet on an east-facing slope, the slab over the 1/31 interface measured 67 cm. The snow above the 1/31 interface was 1F hard, softening to F hardness in the recent storm snow (2/6–2/8). Boot pen was to my knee and ski pen was 15-20 cm. The 1/31 interface is a crust-facet sandwich, with the snow beginning on 1/31 faceting above a 1 cm-thick crust. Stability tests yielded ECTX at the 1/31 interface. I conducted a cross Propagation Saw Test (PST) below the crust, as I wasn’t confident in accurately testing the thin strip above it. The CPST result was 33/100 End below the crust layer from 1/31.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Aspect
- NW
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 7600 ft
This large avalanche likely failed during the tail end of the 1/31 AR event or during the 2/6 storm with wind event.