Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
- Collapsing
- isolated
Ascending the Phantom Path on 2/16, my partner, CS, and I observed much wind-affected snow, with select slabs >10cm thick. Although there was solar input by the time of our arrival at the Snot Couloir rappel (~1245), the cold temps and wind were winning against the solar input. After finishing our rappels and game-planning, I began wiggling onto the main slope, just out of the cave at the end of the rappels. With minimal input, propagation was initiated & before we knew it, the Snot had washed clean top-down. Opting to get out of there, we did not take too specific observations on the crown, although it appeared to have jumped down from the crust layers forming on 2/8, just above the EFC. Skiing down, WS pockets lingered in the couloir, all the way to the valley-floor. Additionally, we observed a crown on the Slot Couloir exit; skiers left atop the trees in the path's culmination; we also observed a natural WS break on the exit couloir, which ran over the previous party's track. We decided to exit Avalanche Mountain. Width of the crown was the sum 15' just downhill of the cave of the Snot Couloir Rappel. Depth ran 30cm+ at its maximum depth just at the tip of the ski.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 24
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- 0
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
The wind + cold temps beat out the sun/ solar input on solar aspects. As of 2/17, observed 8cm+ wind slabs formed Friday overnight.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5 R2
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 5800 ft