Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- widespread
My partner and I spent, Monday through Thursday skiing around Iron Mountain and Campfire Girls Bowl. In our time in the valley, we logged about 30" of new snow during the first storm, falling mainly from 01/08-01/09, with about 16" (at 3800') falling overnight on the 8th. With more snow falling Thursday (S2-S3), 1/11 on our way out. Touring on 1/8, (Iron Mountain 3800' - 5200' W- SW, obscured skies) we experienced several whumpfs while moving through less than 30 degree forested and benchy terrain. We avoided avalanche terrain. Touring on 1/9, (Iron Mountain 3800' - 5200' W- SW forested glades, obscured sky) we noticed any convexities or unsupported slopes exceeding 30 degrees had slid naturally (~2' deep crown, with propagation consistently to the full width of the steep terrain feature). Low visibility beyond the terrain we traveled in. CTV and CTM SC 60cm down, failing on buried SH atop a weak MFcr. Consistent hand shear results on the same layer. Ski pen of 16" with 6" of firmer snow near the surface, made for difficult trail breaking and challenging flotation for skiing. Touring 1/10, (Ingalls Pass 5700', partly sunny) visibility cleared and we had the opportunity to visualize some of the natural cycle results -- crowns semi-visible yet filled in/blown in. Of the crowns we could make out, they were mainly on unsupported slopes. Exact size and depth was difficult to assess since snow had kept falling after the main cycle released, and wind continued to move lots snow around in the aftermath. We felt okay traveling through avalanche runouts since the cliffy, unsupported slopes we would be traveling underneath already slid and there was little volume in the start zones overhead. Notable settlement in the upper storm slab (see photo). 6" ski pen most of the day, made for pretty fun skiing. Touring 1/11, (Iron Mountain, 3800' - 5100', up to 31 degrees forested glades, SW-W aspects, obscured skies) Near freezing temperatures and the beginning of the next storm cycle. Natural avalanches could be heard releasing up valley in unknown locations. The storm slab was now supportable to skis and riding conditions in low angle terrain were fast and fun! Touchy avalanche conditions during the storm cycle 01/08-01/09 made clear by extensive whumpfing experienced in low angle SW-W facing terrain BTL-NTL and many small natural avalanches observed. (ski pen 16-18") Notable settlement in the upper storm slab by 01/10 (see photo). With the consolidating storm snow, the persistent problem seemed to fall more into 'Reactive' as ski pen decreased to near 6" and we did not experience the same degree of collapsing or whumpfing. Cracking was specific to convex terrain features over 30 degrees.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- unknown
- Recent Snowfall
- 76
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
30" in first storm. Fluctuating temps hovering around freezing during the storm. S-4 at times, break in the storm 1/08 around 4pm with precip. starting up again overnight. On 01/09 there was about 6" of consolidating F+ hard storm snow capping 10" of low density precipitation particles. We did not record snowfall on Thursday 01/10 --came in near freezing ~31 degrees at 3800' Wind effect was visible and active up near ridgetops in the new snow on Wednesday during a brief moment of visibility. Winds were audible up-valley on Wednesday night (i.e. strong?), yet the low elevation trees on Iron Mountain felt mostly sheltered from winds.
Snowpack
Snow is becoming more supportable and thus, the persistent layer felt more difficult to trigger with skis, however we still experienced active avalanching on this layer with continued snowfall/load.
Avalanche
Persistent buried SH layer (01/02?) -seems very connected in the fortune creek zone (with how much whumpfing we experienced and signs of persistent style propagating avalanches) with an overlying Storm Slab and/or Wind slab in exposed terrain.