Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Went out to explore mid and lower elevations to see how the recent 8-10" of new snow and recent strong winds have affected the region and look for natural avalanche activity. We found the best riding conditions at ~2800' and below, where the new snow had been protected by last night's strong winds. Above 2800' we found variable, stubborn 1-2' thick wind slabs sitting on top of a widespread thin melt-freeze crust. Overall, the recent natural avalanches, winds, snow, and upside-down feeling structure led us to prioritize traveling in avalanche terrain one-at-a-time at upper elevations. Instability tests showed stubborn, but unstable results below the melt-freeze crust now under ~1' or more of snow. Observed recent natural avalanches and a skier in party triggered two small soft slab avalanches at 2800' at the new/old snow interface. No other red flags observed.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 28
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- slight inversion
- Recent Snowfall
- 8-10"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Clouds increased through the morning and settled in to classic flat light conditions for the rest of the day with blue skies just too far to the north. Winds were calm throughout the day with some light breezes from the NE. Warm day, with temps in the high 20s-30s F.
Snowpack
Last night's wind took our 8-10" thick blanket of new snow and shuffled it around so we could return to variable and punchy surface conditions. Generally where we traveled, we found the fresh wind slab to be present above 2800' in catchment features like bowls and gullies. Above 2800' and where the winds had more affect on the snow, the structure of the top 2' of the snowpack felt terrible, with a 1-2' thick fresh slab over a few inches of softer new snow over flat stellars over a thin melt-freeze crust. We dug two pits in at 3500' on a SE slope on Presidents. We found basal facets in one pit but not the other, highlighting the inconsistent distribution of the basal facets in the alpine. We found stubborn but unstable results in one pit (ECTP24 x2 below melt-freeze crust 30cm down). In another nearby pit, tests showed better stability in the upper snowpack, but poor shear strength in the basal facets (HS: 110cm).
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R2
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 4000 ft
Observed multiple natural avalanches that likely occurred last night when winds picked up and moved snow. Very large natural in Wimp Bowl visible from the road. Many smaller natural avalanches on the NNE face of 4068' and easterly bowls and gullies of the sunny side of Marmot. Small slab avalanche observed in the back of Valley of Sin in the morning when light was good, looked to have failed near ground on the basal facets. While skiing down Presidents, at around 2800', a skier in our party triggered a small soft slab avalanche at the new/old snow interface. The avalanche picked up a lot of speed an entrained a lot of nearby snow, resulting in a long runout (~200') for its width (~15') and a powder cloud the knocked some willows. Shortly after, another smaller, though similar avalanche was triggered on a steep slope near some alders. The first avalanche took out part of the skin track on its way down.