Anthony Lakes

Thanks to the 5 groups that came together for the tour with an Avalanche Forecaster during the final day of the Eastern Oregon Backcountry Festival.  We also can't thank the forecasters and educators who led the groups including Michael Hatch, Kelly McNeil, Tom Guthrie, Karen Morse and Victor McNeil.  

We observed cracking in the recently transported snow from winds blowing out of the SSE near ridgelines on Lees Peak. Small and isolated.

Our group dug a snowpit to test the snow after last week's warming event and the 1/4 facet crust combo at 8500' on an East Aspect.  The total height of the snow was 185cm, or 6'.  Just below the new snow, 4" that we had received over the past 24-48 hours was a stout crust that developed during last week's warmup and rain-on-snow event.  Looking back at the Anthony Lakes snolite snotel which is at 7,160' there was 47" of snow on 1/26, when the temperature made it above freezing.  There were no freezing temperatures recorded until 2/1 and the total height of snow was 38".  During that period it rained to the top of the highest peaks in the Elkhorns.  The rain crust we observed was around 10cm thick.  

While performing a Compression Test we had two relevant failures.  The first was down 27cm (nearly 1') on a crust that failed on the 13th tap, with a Sudden Planar result.  Our second failure was down 120cm (4') on the 1/4 persistent slab problem.  This failed on the 22nd tap, with a Sudden Collapse result.  We didn't perform an ECT, but anytime a Sudden result is found in a compression test caution is warranted.  Our group chose to manage the Persistent Slab problem by sticking to slopes <30 degrees and avoiding runout zones, such as the gully under Angell Peak.