Quick report
- Cracking
- widespread
Went up to the lakes basin today to find fresh snow and look out for any fresh wind slabs. Below treeline, snow was soft and with HN ~ 5-10cm. Anything solar was already getting wet by 11:30am. Small point releases were observed on solar rocky terrain. As we neared treeline, wind effect was widespread, and there was widespread cracking in the skin track with dinner plating. The wind had deposited very deep (30cm+) pockets of fresh snow, while leaving other places completely scoured. Hand pits near treeline showed widespread wind slab instability. Slabs were about 5-20cm and failed cohesively and easily everywhere we dug, sometimes without even touching them. As a result, we decided to step down from our original objective and ski low angle terrain. On our way back up for a second lap, we saw a solo rider standing at the bottom of a debris field, from a small wind slab he had just triggered, on the same chute we had been eyeing! After a brief discussion with him, we determined all was ok, and proceeded onwards for a second lap of low angle. on our way back out, lower down, snow was becoming crusty and very wet by 3pm.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 10800 ft
A solo rider triggered a small wind slab at the choke of a short chute on Northerly terrain. He was able to ride out to the side without being caught. Crown height about ~15cm