Quick report
From travels on 2/4 and 2/5 I found no evidence that slab avalanches or any sizable wet loose slides had run on Big Slide during the last extended warm spell. Under the 10-15cm of recent snow the crust was smooth and supportive. I chose to take a day off on 2/6. On 2/7 I returned to Big Slide to find that most of the face below the rocky band had been raked by roller balls up to 6" in diameter, and at least one D1 point release avalanche . (No surprise, given Tuesday's sun and warm temps.) Luckily, Wednesday morning was much sunnier than predicted. At 10:00am the surface sun crust was supportive from 6200' to 5200' on a SE aspect. Skied like a groomer. At noon, the sun had softened the 2/6 crust to a pleasantly ignorable condition. Skied pitches of 30-40 degrees in less rocky (and thus non-rollerballed) areas. Descended into the cloud deck at about 5200' at 12:15pm. On an open, west-facing slope in the cloud I found a breakable surface crust from 5200' to 4800'. Below that there was just barely enough snow in the forest to make my way out on skis. Investigation of the substantial Early February crust was limited to ski pole probing. Did not dig to investigate what may lurk under that crust. On shady NE-facing slopes the surface snow was faceted and made for mildly challenging skinning given the slick crust it sat on.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- WL
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 5800 ft
Observed one D1 natural point release avalanche that had run approximately 250 vertical feet from below the rock band on Big Slide sometime on 2/6. SE aspect between approximately 5800' and 5550' About 80% of Big Slide below the rocky band was raked with frozen rollerball debris from 2/6.