Quick report
Took a leisurely walk up above Marion to dig around on south aspects and get some views of the surrounding alpine terrain.
- Observed one crown that looked relatively newer in the Dickey drainage. This crown failed just below ridgeline. It looked more recent than other nearby slab avalanche activity.
- Wet loose activity appeared a couple of days old. All D1-D1.5 in size.
- Surface conditions on south aspects softened by the time I arrived at noon. Surface snow was still semi-supportable to ski at around 3 pm. Just starting to get manky.
- North aspects at upper elevation still held dry surface snow.
- Meltwater reached the January crust/facet layer on southerly aspects at 6000 feet. Facets below the January crust are just starting to become moist.
- I only found a few inches of wet snow above a crust on a southerly aspect near 7000 feet. This was however on a slope with roughly a 30-degree angle. I suspect steeper slopes that receive a more direct sun angle have more wet snow.
There was still plenty of time for the sun to do its work after I left.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
Clear and calm.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Type
- HS
- Count
- 3
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 7400 ft
I'm guessing it was a hard slab. Failed just below ridgeline. Crown looked crisper than old crowns observed on Cameahwait.