Quick report
The dearth of snowfall in this area since the Cupid Crusher has helped temper avalanche hazards despite poor snowpack structures and abundant weak layers. We did find unstable pit results, both in upper snowpack weak near surface facets and depth hoar near the ground on shady aspects. Compared to the persistent slab I triggered on Schuylkill Ridge yesterday, the newest generation of wind-drifted persistent slabs here is thinner (40cm), harder (1F), and spans smaller portions of the slope. I attempted to get feedback, both from thick and thin parts of the slab on several suspect leeward slopes with no signs of instability.
No signs of instability under foot while breaking trail or targeting several suspect leeward features.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 8
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
There was about 3" of recent snow above the last meltfreeze crust below treeline. Winds increased to moderate speeds in the afternoon and we observed light drifting at ridgetop, with some larger plumes off of peaks in the Ruby Range.
Snowpack
There's about 8" to 15" of settled snow in the past month since the Cupid Crusher; crowns and old skin tracks from our last visit on Feb 18th are still visible in wind sheltered terrain. We got moderate propagating results on March weak layers, both BTL and NTL, and hard propagating results on depth hoar at the ground. Slabs above the March weak layers are thin, soft, and poorly developed in sheltered terrain and were most concerning near ridgeline where winds have created thicker, stiffer slabs.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 11600 ft
Limited natural avalanche activity in this area from the most recent storm cycle. We saw one partially drifted crown that could have run mid-wind event.