Red Creek

Toured to 8,000’ in the Red Creek drainage. Warm temperatures were the most notable observations of the day. The temperature when we left the truck at 0930 was 43 degrees and 48 degrees when we returned at noon. We noted about 4 inches of completely saturated wet snow up to 7,000’. Above 7,000’, we found 10-14 inches of recent snow with drifts around 2 feet deep in some loaded locations. All of the recent snow up to 8,000’ was moist. We were able to initiate large pinwheels and small, slow moving wet loose avalanches in steeper terrain. Small natural wet loose sluffs and roller balls were also observed. 

We found many 1-2 foot thick wind slabs along exposed ridge features and observed some shooting cracks within the wind drifted snow. However, the above freezing temperatures and wet snow seem to have taken some of the life out of these slabs as none were reactive to the weight of a skier. This is likely a different story up higher where temperatures have remained cooler. We noted at least 3 large (D2) wind slab avalanches on the east face of Ferry Peak to the west.

Brought the density tube for fun and measured the water content of the recent snow in a sheltered location at 7,800’. I measured 16 inches of snow containing 1.9 inches of water since March 13th. The snow from the past 48 hours measured out at about 13% density. Warm and windy!