Quick report
- Cracking
- widespread
Shooting Cracks. 2 1/2 - 3 ft of new snow. Graupel layer is reactive and burried 2-4 ft under new snow.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 7800 ft
We toured up from Castle Road to the base of the south face via Cornholio Bowl. Near treeline, surface conditions shifted to from relatively unconsolidated storm snow to a more cohesive slab. We decided to check out a test slope to see how the slab would react. As anticipated, we got a 7-8 inch soft slab to propagate within the new storm snow. A secondary slab broke underneath the intial release. The second slab was significantly larger than anticipated and propagated approximately 150-180 ft down slope with 3-1/2 ft crown. We believe this failed on the graupel layer between the old/new snow interface. We were on our way to frog huts and decided to back out as we assumed if it was this reactive down low, our margin for error up higher was slim to none to safely get back to the huts without being exposed to overhead uncertainty. Between the amount new snow, wind direction and the exsisting graupel layer, avalanches will most likely run larger and propagate wider through terrain features that typically hinder propagation potential.