Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Rec day out in Gash today. I observed shooting cracks within 1 ft deep wind slabs on upper elevation northeast aspects. Small 1-2" thick wind slabs also cracked and broke. The surface snow on sunny, south facing aspects and lower elevations had gotten fairly warm by the end of the day; I observed numerous small avalanches from cliffbands on all aspects at all elevations.
I observed shooting cracks in upper elevation northeast aspects. I also observed numerous small point release avalanches from cliffbands on all aspects up to upper elevations.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Beautiful clear skies above us but it looked stormy to the north. The temperatures dropped quite a bit as we got up to ridgeline compared to down at the trailhead. Light gusts of wind from the southeast at ridgeline.
Snowpack
There was approximately 5" of new/recent snow at the lower Gash trailhead. Much of this snow had melted by the end of the day. South facing aspects with a lot of sun exposure were getting warm and sticky and middle and lower elevations. North and east facing aspects remained cool, dry, and conducive to some really great skiing at middle and upper elevations. I found 1 ft deep wind slabs on upper elevation northeast aspects near ridgeline. I triggered shooting cracks in these slabs and backed off from convexities in the terrain. On east aspects at ridgeline, harder 1-2" thick wind slabs cracked and broke easily as well. I also observed snow being transported by the wind at ridgelines.