Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
10 to 14 inches of new snow rested on top of the old snow surfaces in this area when we arrived this morning. Snow continued to fall during our tour. We saw several signs of instability, including test slope failures, cracking, and active blowing / drifting snow. We definitely felt the excitement of the new snow, but we chose to ski conservative and lower-angle lines. In addition to limiting our exposure to avalanches, the new snow felt deeper on the low-angle slopes. When we did make turns on small but steeper test slopes, we could feel the variable old snow surfaces below our skis. We triggered a few small (3 to 8 ft long) shooting cracks on N-facing test slopes in below treeline terrain. While these failed on the old snow surface below the new snow, we did not trigger collapses or whumpfs. Shooting cracks grew larger and more widespread in wind-exposed near and above treeline terrain. We also triggered a wind slab failure on a test slope. These failed within the new snow.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 30
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Snow and wind continued throughout our tour.