Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Intense afternoon wind loading was well on its way to bumping the avalanche danger up to High by the end of the day. Snowpack observations lined up with the realities of traveling on - or even near! - steep slopes accumulating wind-drifted snow with large avalanches easily triggered on wind-loaded slopes. Small test slopes generally didn't produce much with compressive support from below, but any bigger, steeper slopes were a no-go. Strong southerly winds were moving snow in more sheltered terrain like Swift Creek and even making for marginal, whiteout conditions when starting the drive down Hwy 542.
Wind-drifted features repeatedly produced cracking and small, soft slabs when tested, sometimes pulling out a slab on the slope below. More supported, less wind-drifted features produced cracks, but were stubborn to trigger on small slopes.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- < 2000'
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Light snowfall and modeate wind in the morning gave way to strong winds and blizzard conditions in the afternoon as forecast. Extensive wind transport with increasing winds. Hard to estimate snowfall due to strong winds.
Snowpack
5-30cm of 4F wind-drifted snow on northelry top and cross-loaded slopes. 70cm total over crust buried on March 8th. Progressive resistance from below wind slab interface down to crust (F > 4F+). 15cm K-hard crust with softer melt forms below. Testing produced CTE-SP and ECTP at a weak, mid-storm interface down 25cm. CT's produced CTH-B at the new snow-crust interface. Windward slopes did not have crust exposed quite yet, but will likely be at the surface with continued strong winds.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R3
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 4900 ft
One triggered slab on northerly, wind-loaded terrain, with another filled-in crown visible in similar terrain.