Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Rapid Warming, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>D1 natural wet loose avalanches occurred in the steep terrain (ca. 5000-6500ft), largely confined to gullies between rocks. We saw one set of releases that had run about 200-250ft vertical before cascading over the cliffs below. While not large (just a few feet across), the "pinwheels" were heavy and dense and it wouldn't have been pleasant to be on the receiving end of them. </p> <p>We also triggered numerous wet loose avalanches at our feet as we descended. Some of these were cartoonishly large. One of the snowballs I triggered traveled several hundred feet of vertical, was a bit under a meter wide and about 1.25-1.5 meters in diameter--the biggest I've ever seen.</p> <p>This all occurred prior to the freeze line rising to that elevation, so I imagine with the rain and melt water that we saw as we continued our descent more wet weirdness is possible overnight. </p>
A photo of the natural wet loose avalanches. These actually originated from a gully above out of view and then continued through the rocks pictured here and continued over the cliffs just below where I took the photo.
Snowpack
About 50-60cm of snow on the ground in the Jumpoff Canyon zone around 6200ft. Snow was upside down, progressing from 4F+ at the top to 4F- at the bottom, with little in the way of distinct layering. Hand shears were not reactive and had the entire column of snow toppling over at the ground. Precipitating snow was quite dense, and the snow on the ground was damp--took little effort to get water out of a snowball.