Nevada, Teacup Bowl, Moose Creek

Quick report

Finally got an opportunity to travel far off the beaten path. Went skinning up the Gold Mint trail on our way to Nevada Peak. The trail was more brushy than usual however, river crossings were good. We did note a small wind slab avalanche that appeared to run during the storm (02/14) off a NW couloir on Idaho Peak with a small crown near the top of the peak. Going into the valley that hosts the Rock and Nevada, we also observed several very small and thin windslabs that ran with the storm on NE aspects. Surface conditions on the up were crusty in many forms; from the drizzle crust, 2' inch wind crust, and even some rhyme to top it all off. We descended off a W couloir on the shoulder of Nevada. On the contrary to the up track the top 400'ft in the couloir was hero powder and fantastic skiing. The lower couloir alternated between hardened old avalanche debris and some fun powder in the lower gulley ~ 3000'. We then followed the snowmachine track in Moose Creek before sneaking up a rib in Iron Creek Valley heading to peak 5232 (teacup). Notably while Moose Creek valley certainly saw some wind and even slight sun effect we did not note the drizzle crust on any aspects that we observed. We did note several small recent windslabs in this valley as well predominantly on NW aspects in the alpine. After a boot up on some breakable wind crust on the W gulley of 5232 we soaked up the sun and skied down the east face getting re acquainted with shallow rocks and a grabby drizzle/ wind crust which stuck around for the entire descent with few soft sections. After a long fulfilling day we attempted to free heel down the trail back to the parking lot. Make sure you have eye protection. sharp reflexes, and are content with getting smacked in the face if you try the same. Fun day with variable surface conditions, cold weather and few signs of instability besides evidence of small windslabs in the alpine that ran during or after the storm (02/14).

Weather

Cloud Cover

clear

Very cold day made use of our mittens and parkas.

Snowpack

One reason for this tour was investigating the span of the drizzle crust. Notably we did not observe the drizzle crust on any aspects in the Moose Creek Valley. Back towards the forecast zone the crust was common, notably in the alpine on an easterly aspect on the shoulder of Nevada there seemed to be a rhyme crust. The wind crust on most aspects facing the forecast zone was consistently ~2''Inches thick and made for some grabby skiing and deceptively hard trail breaking. Frequent pole probes would alternate between clear evidence of the basal facets and hard snow. I never noted the snowpack to be deeper than 120cm the whole tour.

Avalanche

Several small (D1) windslabs released naturally in steep alpine start zones likely during the storm (02/14). Seemingly concentrated on West → Northerly aspects.