Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Signs of instability included shooting cracks on isolated slopes. Weather was mostly overcast with light to moderate snowfall and northwest winds. Temperatures were close to freezing throughout the day. Snowpack tests showed soft wind slab layers in the top 20 cm of the column (ctE broken down 5,10,17), and a slight density change down 75cm (ctH resistant planar down 75). Extended column test did not reveal any propagation quality (ectN down 27). Our profile showed a progressively denser snowpack from top to bottom (120cm) with the exception of a layer down 75 cm that was 2-3cm thick; 1 finger minus hardness between 1 finger hardness above and below. Cautious travel and terrain selection was our goal today. We were skiing slopes averaging 30 degrees with start zones and isolated convexities that were near 35 degrees.
Avalanche
Multiple size 1 and .5 windslab avalanches on north aspects at 8000-8500 feet. All of the windslabs were triggered intentionally with ski cuts on convexities with start zones averaging 35 degrees. Average size was 10cm deep and 2 meters wide, running 5-10 meters. All of the slabs were moving on layers within the storm snow. No one was caught. Also observed very small dry loose avalanches on steep north slopes.