Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Rapid Warming
- Elevation
- 2743 m
We toured Thomas Fork with the plan to ski some of the couloirs in this zone as well as Abyss. The weather was sunny and clear, with calm winds, and steadily increasing temperatures throughout the day. The snow above 7,600' was noticeably wind affected along all aspects. This isn't surprising given the strong winds over the past couple of days. Wind pressed snow and thin (~2 cm) 1F hardness windslabs were widespread.
We dug a quick test pit on a N/NE slope at approximately 9,000'. HS - 260cm. A melt-freeze crust overlaid with graupel layer was visible at 205cm (55cm down from the top of snowpack. ECTX. Additional loading steps from the shoulder initiated a crack along this crust/graupel interface, however, there was no propagation.
We also observed several wet loose avalanches on solar aspects during the tour. The frequency of these avalanches began to increase after 10:00am.