Quick report
Above freezing temperatures and at least 1.4" of rain adding stress to the snowpack was all we needed to make conservative travel decisions. It looked like the rain line was somewhere around 2,800' to 3,000'. Wet loose avalanches is a concern in the trees especially if temperatures stay above freezing overnight. More glide avalanches in the trees may release as well. I did not see wind slab avalanche activity, however, that does not mean that there weren't any.
Widespread glide avalanche activity in the mid to upper elevations on west, south and east aspects.Weather
- Air Temp
- 38 at the parking lot
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- Above 2,800'
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Clouds began breaking up in the late morning. It rained lightly on us in the morning then stopped in the afternoon. We had light winds to 2,300' then occasional strong gusts from the east. I did not see snow being transported at upper elevations. Some mountians in Lynx Creek had flagging clouds. Temperatures were around 38 F at the truck and above freezing at 2,300'.
Snowpack
At the highway, the snow pack was moist to the ground and the surface will have a new crust on it when we get freezing temperatures. At 2,300' I dug a pit on a west slope. The pit was 4' deep to the ground (120cm.) and moist almost to the bottom. The snow below the October crust was 4F trending to 1F near the ground. There were 2 areas that were slushy where the rain seemed to be congregating, 4" down and 20'" down above a crust layer. I did not get concerning test results (ECTX).
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Count
- 3
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 2800 ft
I noticed widespread glide avalanche activity on Eddies south face, Seattle Ridge, and on Pete's North and South. A new glide crack opened on Sunburst to the right of the common uptrack to the ridge. I also saw a small glide avalanche in the trees and was told of another one around the corner.