Mile Hi Saddle

Quick report

Cracking

specific

Collapsing

isolated

Took my shovel for a hike up the E side of Mile Hi Saddle to see if the wind had migrated uphill yet. It had. The few inches of unruffled, hoar-frosted snow that sparkled quietly on Sunday had been re-distributed overnight and was starting to move again as stiff N-NE winds picked up in the afternoon. There was new debris and cracks on both sides of the trail in the last couple hundred vertical feet approaching the ridge top (S/SW aspect). Drifted areas atop the ridge were also cracked, some with slopes <30º. Result of a quick pit on one such W-facing slope in was ECTPV, down 8" on the old surface. HS was ~3' (WAY more snow than average cover). No additional failure with taps, but the bed slab was of varied hardness and pulled apart in chunks. A thin slab ~10' in dia cracked and collapsed slightly when I stepped onto a low-angle slope on the S side of the ridge. There was debris from at least 2 other small slides in cross-loaded gullies adjacent to the ridge top, but the only new debris visible on nearby peaks and ridges was a point-release high on the W face of Vista.

Avalanche

Multiple natural releases in the previous 24 hours of newly formed wind slabs on S>SW>W aspects along the ridge top and in cross-loaded gullies at around 3000' elevation. Crowns ranged from about 2-8". Largest slide was adjacent to the trail where it gains the ridge top.