Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
We changed our travel plans mid tour to adapt to conditions that did not match our expectations.
- We found reactive, soft wind slabs on leeward slopes and most aspects. We found loose dry instabilities on north and east-facing slopes in steep, wind-protected terrain. We saw avalanches that likely ran in the past 48 hours.
- Wind slabs were failing on non-persistent grains above a melt-freeze crust. However, we found a facet/crust sandwich under the recent snow. See snowpack section for details.
- Winds had shifted and were more intense than expected. There were frequent, unforecasted, snow showers for most of the day. We noted an accumulation of 5 cm of snow today where we traveled in wind-protected terrain.
With limited visibility and test slopes suggesting winds slabs were sensitive and more frequent than expected, we opted to stick to low-angle slopes in more sheltered areas.
We triggered small (D1-D-1.5) wind slabs on east-facing test slopes beneath a ridgeline, between 9700 and 10000', near treeline. We got shooting cracks in drifted snow on all aspects except west. We saw multiple wind slab avalanches that had occurred in the last 48 hours.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 5
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Today was a very cold, stormy, windy day. Temperatures were well below freezing at all elevations, and we experienced unexpected light to moderate snowfall throughout day, moderate blowing snow, and moderate winds shifted from SE - N - NW.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- SS
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9700 ft
Intentionally triggered soft wind slabs on short test slopes.