Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
There were lots of tree bombs causing mini slides to the road I use to access the skiing. A couple more trees to cut off of the road from the weight of the new & old snow. Touring from 5300' to 6800' in the trees on a West-facing slope there were soft wind drifts throughout. Some were reactive to stomping, some not. Hasty pits along the way showed 5"-12" (depending on drifting) of soft (Fist) snow on top. Sitting under this layer about a few inches was a layer witting on what looked like buried surface hoar. Again, depending on how 'drifty' the area was, this might be 8" to 16" deep. Moderate to easy shovel shears. (basically 4F to this layer)The next layer I focused on was a couple feet deep (plus or minus). (1F above this layer) It was a moderate shear as well. Not something I would trust my life to on the wrong slope... I also dug a hasty pit on an east facing sheltered slope right below the ridge line. Although the depths changed, the layers were pretty similar to the west facing except stiffer...harder shears. Exposed east-facing had a firm wind slab that was very reactive to skis. Although I'm anxious to ski this particular east-facing line, I've continued to avoid it given our buried layers and the surrounding exposure with minimal escape routes (aka: know what's above you and below you). Weather: Sunny! Temp's stayed on the cool side, no wind. Lots of wet tree bombs coming down as the afternoon wore on, but only on the sun exposed side of the trees. With the sun still so low, steeper faces were more affected than lower angle slopes. My runs were focused on West-facing tree runs, with a northerly micro aspect to avoid sun and tree bomb splatter. Sluffing off of turns, but otherwise soft, excellent powder. The steeper the pitch, the more the snow ran with my turns. Was able to ski to 5,000' with excellent snow in the shade to the road. I always feel like the snow is trying to lull me into complacency on sunny powder days like this, but I did not comply...
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- W
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 6300 ft
Observed old crown lines on West facing steep exposures. Although not witnessed, a few west facing faces slid while I was skiing nearby.