Skyland

We snowmobiled and skied into the Skyland area to check out the crown of a large natural avalanche that failed the afternoon of 3/24. 

• An inch or so of wet recent snow covered a 3 to 6 inch layer of refrozen melt grains. This was supportable on skis ascending and surprisingly dependable descending. It was not supportable on a sled, though we could power through on edge. 
• We were surprised to see the crowns of several large-very large natural avalanches that appear to have released mid-week on an upper-elevation, northerly slope. The crowns connected across terrain features and looked to be 1 to 2 m deep.  They may have failed on the very weak snow that developed in January (1/31 weak layer). See avalanche section.
• The slide we investigated was surprisingly destructive. We saw multiple broken snags, at least one uprooted tree, and debris piles up to 10 feet deep in the runout. A good reminder of the forces involved in what appears to be an undramatic avalanche on a relatively short slope. 
• The snow behind the crown face included a layer of very soft, wet snow (F Hard) that looked to be large (2-4 mm) rounding depth hoar. This was the likely failure layer, though it was probably not wet when the slide released.
• Despite dramatic recent settlement, the crown face was still 1 to 3 feet high.

Radial cracking around skies where near-surface crust broke under our weight, usually near vegetation. Only once did the cracks extend longer than a ski length.

Wet snow in the trees on north-facing slopes above about 6500 feet. 3-5 cm recent snow (wet) above 8-15 cm thick, mostly supportable melt-freeze crust. Some softer, partially frozen wet grain below that, then very soft (F-hard) wet melt forms and rounding depth hoar near ground. Likely formed during the January dry spell and observed in snow profiles and obs earlier this winter (2/10, 2/13, and 3/6). The snowpack here was generally a meter or so deep - much shallower than elsewhere in the region.