Quick report
We headed up Spokane Creek with the goals of finding out how much snow has fallen over the past few days, the extent of the buried facets that grew on the surface during the recent high pressure, and assess the affect of the winds on the area. We found rain line to be around 1500' and by 1900' we found 4"-5" of new snow on the surface. Winds were light to strong throughout the day above 2000' transporting snow. Along all ridgetops we saw frequent flagging showing rapid snow transport building fresh wind slabs. We dug a pit at 3100' on a SW aspect and found a deep and homogenous snowpack with no concerning results in stability tests or buried facets.
While skiing a SW facing line off of Lipps both skiers triggered small dry loose avalanches in protected terrain. On our way out of the valley we triggered two small wind slab avalanches 6"-7" deep in the freshly wind-drifted snow on a wind loaded test slope at 2500'.
While touring spokane creek, we found wind loaded micro-terrain features with fresh wind slabs that had been forming throughout the day. As we were exiting, we triggered two small, but wide, wind slab avalanches 6"-7" deep at 2500'. Active wind loading was prominent throughout the day with very ridge top around constantly flagging. Leeward slopes above 2000' had fresh wind slabs actively forming. While skiing a SW facing line off of Lipps ridge, both skiers triggered small dry loose avalanches at 3500' which ran ~400'.Weather
- Air Temp
- 30s down low, 20s up high
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- 1500'
- Recent Snowfall
- 2"-3"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Day started off with warm temps (33F at road) and clearing skies. Near treeline winds picked up and started moving some snow, filling the old skin track. Winds stayed light to strong throughout the day, strongest at ridge tops where snow was being rapidly transported. Clouds moved in during the afternoon and light snow began to fall.
Snowpack
Surface Conditions: From the road to 1500' there was a thick breakable melt-freeze crust on top of wet snow, made for slick skinning and tough skiing. From 1500' to 1900' the crust was present but had a dusting of new snow on top. Above 1900' there was 4"-5" of soft snow being transported in exposed areas. Farther up valley we found varied surfaces with some soft snow, hard slabs, and exposed crust.
Snowpack: We dug a pit at 3100' on a SW aspect. The snowpack in this location was very deep, over 13' deep. The top 4' of the snowpack was mostly wind packed snow getting progressively harder with depth. In the stability tests we did we had no concerning results. The snowpack in this location had good structure and good strength. Where we found a snowpack with less strength was on leeward, steep loaded aspects with fresh wind slabs that were eager to release.