Quick report
- Cracking
- Observed
- Collapsing
- Observed
I was surprised by several things:
- The snowpack below about 8800 feet in the Beaver Creek drainage was completely faceted and barely supportable
- In other areas, the buried facet layer (about 14-16" deep) was very obvious and very weak. It made riding challenging. We did one ECT in McAtee Basin on a N aspect at 8800' on a sheltered slope and it failed on isolation (ECTPV).
- Collapsing and cracking probably wouldn't have been described as widespread, but I was shocked how common it was for us. Mostly it happened on previously wind loaded places. But it also happened on slopes sheltered from wind.
note- we were chasing good snow and mainly rode on northerly facing slopes between 8600' and 9400'
A skier triggered a slide nearby today on an East aspect at about 9200 feet. They remotely triggered it from 80-100 feet below but were able to get out of the way.
Weather
Ridgetop winds became strong in the afternoon.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 9200 ft
A skier remotely triggered this slide while we were riding in the area. It broke 80-100 feet above them, but they were able to move out of the way and not get caught.