Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
I spent three days camped out in the Little Lakes Valley from Friday through today, Sunday (4/10-4/12). Our goal was originally to climb Mt Abbot and Mills, but quickly the trip turned into a powder skiing trip and the snow pickets remained at camp anchoring the tent. What we observed; Friday - Mostly graupel had fallen covering the firm and icy snow that was consistently present above 10,500'. Below this elevation, coverage was spotty and travel was annoying (skis on, skis off). - Friday evening we went to sleep with moderate to heavy snowfall, and light winds. Saturday - We woke up to 10-15cm (4-6 in) of incredibly cold and light fresh snow at 10,500, with up to 30cm in wind loaded areas... it made for fantastic riding. We skied the Hourglass off of Mt Dade, and quite a few other faces in the Dade/Hourglass cirque. Small storm slab avalanches were seen off of steep slopes around the area. - No wind slab avalanches were seen this day - HST was anywhere from 10-30cm across the higher elevations. - The riding was killer! - The wind loading was also killer... Significant wind slabs were developing along saddles and mid-slope convexities across the tour. Blowing snow was intense with highly variable deposition throughout the area. I would not have wanted to be in the Hourglass in the afternoon with how intense the loading was. - Wind slab formation was noticeable by the late afternoon on low angle roll-overs that we had traveled on to get to our objectives. - Evening was cloudy but no precip, lots of wind! Sunday - Strong to Extreme winds battered the tent through the night. Did not get out, ever, to check on how much snow was falling. - Woke up to 20-30cm more of cold and light snow at our camp at 10,500. Hard to pin point exactly as so much was being blown around. - Noticeable D1-D2 storm slab avalanches were seen off the northwest face of Pipsqueak... they seemed to have cracked in the night with some fresh snow coverage. - Rather than ride more we took advantage of the fresh snow coverage and ski-daddled. I experienced cracking of developing wind slabs while traveling over mid slope convexities on Saturday. Saw numerous small storm slabs on Saturday off steep aspects, and remnants of larger storm slabs in those same areas on Sunday morning.
Avalanche
I saw numerous small D1 storm slabs on Saturday morning off of the steep North faces of Bear Creek Spire, Pipsqueak Spire, and Mt Dade.