Big creek

Quick obs: HS : 245cm New snow since 1/31 :80cm Interface between 80-100cm and old snow: facets and crusts. 31” storm slab Temps :20-30f. ECTp10 @185cm Collapsing while traveling on skins. Longer obs: There were a couple other parties during the day. We had planned to keep the skiing to low angle mellow terrain due to the large load of snow that fell over the weekend. Sawtooth avy posted avalanche warnings and extreme danger. I usually take consideration of surrounding forecasts as well as local ones. During the drive up there were multiple small avalanches from the road plow. The temps were in the mid 20s when we began in the late morning. And it was snowing (S2 nearly all day) Snow was very light on top and made for great riding conditions. I noticed some isolated collapsing while making a new skin track in rolling steeper terrain. A few handpits on the way up showed the top 50 cm all new storm snow at fist hardness going to 4F below. We did a quick pit at around 7,000’ north facing. I dug down a little over 100cm to see what the interface between the layers from before the storm and the new storm snow looked like. What it showed was that there was about 100cm of slab on top of deeply buried facets. There was a small crust under that. This is closely consistent with what I’ve seen this winter in numerous places in central Idaho. From sawtooths to mores creek to big creek. This makes me hesitant to ride steeper terrain especially with such a heavy slab on top. HS of 245cm. The upper 100cm of the pit was right side up. But I did get an ECTp @185cm that failed on an interface in between the storm cycles. That would give an almost 2 foot thick slab similar to the slab in the recent observation from west mountain. This type of storm over weak layers is similar to what we had last year in early march when there were multiple fatalities in the north west due to buried weak layers that were fairly deep. The next part of this I copied from a snow professional that is worth following for very good observations and things to think about. Ben VandenBos. Find him on instagram and Substack. He is one of my most used resources for mindset. “Go into the backcountry expecting anomalous conditions and avalanches, and behave accordingly. Snap yourself out of the low danger doldrums and be prepared to enter a snow-covered world that can swallow you with indifference, and will, if you give it the chance. This is not just a reminder for you, dear reader. I'm writing this for myself as well. I have been playing in and around a lot of steep avalanche terrain and I recognize that it will take a significant amount of mental gymnastics to step back, particularly when faced with steep, open slopes of deep, untracked snow. We can learn a lot about how snow and avalanches behave during times like this. Exercise your powers of observation and communicate with your partners and friends about what you are seeing out there.“

Quick report