Quick report
This was an afternoon bop into the alpine with the goals of looking at the potential for developing wet snow issues, moving my body, and watching the sunset. Success on all fronts! Strong, gusty, variable winds were blowing throughout the course of the tour. These winds were doing a lot of moisture advection and helping to keep the snow surface cooler than it would have been otherwise. In more sheltered areas I found a snowpack with that had warmed enough to break down surficial crusts and push water down into the upper snowpack. I'd anticipate that we could see more widespread wet snow activity with warmer temperatures and much lighter winds in the forecast. I did not experience any cracking or collapsing. Recent small wet avalanche and direct encounters with a wetting snowpack were the most glaring signs of instability I encountered.
Weather
Quite windy at times. Winds were gusty and variable and were eroding faceted slabs and transporting significant amounts of facets. Many of these facets contacted my face; a free dermabrasion, thanks.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Count
- 5
- Aspect
- SW
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 10000 ft
I'm adding some avalanches that are not easily visible while glassing from the highway.