Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
We kept to mellower terrain on the north side of Bellview, where we experienced frequent collapses, shooting cracks, and unstable pit results 1 to 2 feet deep over our dryspell facet layer. We found stable snow on sunnier aspects where the snow fell on dirt.
On mellow, north-facing terrain above treeline, we experienced five collapses and shooting cracks, typically in terrain with some amount of cross-loading. Collapses/cracks radiated about 30 to 40 feet; one rolled onto a steeper slope but didn't release. Slabs were 1 to 2 feet thick over the storm interface (11/16 facet layer).Weather
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- Below valley floor
- Recent Snowfall
- 30
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Snowpack
New snow depths were 10" to 12" at 11,000'. Above treeline, the new snow was redistributed by yesterday's west to northwest winds into drifts ranging from 1 to 3 feet thick. On north aspects of Bellview, the new and drifted snow often sits on facets. The facets are occasionally above or below old melt-freeze crusts. There was a surface hoar event last night: I noticed 2-3 mm surface hoar up to at least 11,400' and didn't find it above treeline.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- SS
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 13200 ft
A couple of small wind slabs ran naturally from shady alpine terrain during the storm.