Quick report
A cold start to the day followed by a calm, progressively warmer day. Plenty of tree bombs and wet loose activity. Crusts abound on solar aspects to come. Lots of wet loose activity observed throughout the day, from Pan Dome to Lake Ann Buttress to the lower Curtis. Around 4P we heard an audible slide but could not tell what it was. Later we saw CMA and NWAC's observation of the large natural off Video and matched the timeline to what we heard. During our skiing we experienced surface sloughing but no deeper instabilities, wind slabs, etc.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Rain Elevation
- 3500
- Recent Snowfall
- 8
A sunny, calm day with increasing temperatures.
Snowpack
I wanted to dig in the snow at different elevation bands to see if I could find protected weak grains. I stopped to dig a pit at 4,200' (NW facing) in a protected, sheltered area near treeline on the way to Mt. Ann after exiting Swift Creek. Pit 1 - 4,200' NW Facing, coordinates 48.83055, -121.65573 Dug 120cm down Fist (F) to 4 finger (4F) in the top 10cm of fresh, new snow then 1F down all the way to the bottom of my pit Performed a column test (CT); fracture at 12 was rough, non sudden nor planar around 12-15 cm down; fracture at 22 was non-sudden but planar, approximately 60 cm down. Pit 2 - 4,900', NE Facing, coordinates 48.82029, -121.66191 Dug 130cm down Similar hardness profile, with F to 4F in the top 15 cm then 1F to the bottom. Did notice a slightly softer layer around 70cm down, but hard to call it 4F. Column test, first fracture at 13 down ~15-20 cm non-sudden and non-planar. Shovel shear on the column after first fracture broke down 70cm, with a planar fracture plane. Interpretation of test results was that it'd be pretty hard to get movement on the 70cm layer through human or skier trigger, but with additional load through a shallower slide or cornice failure, there's a clean fracture plan on which to propagate*. *We did not dig an ECT and do not have any data points to show propagation potential. Little in the way of wind affect observed throughout the day. Riding was enjoyable on polar aspects above 4000'.
Avalanche
No slides triggered in the areas we traveled.