Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
With uncertainty regarding the current danger and incoming weather, we chose a location that provided us many low-angle options and small test slopes:
- We felt that danger increased with elevation and wind exposure.
- Stepping on to steep test slopes above 6500' produced cracking and avalanches in the top 2 to 8 inches of the storm snow.
- We intentionally triggered a small (D1) soft slab on wind-loaded NE slope at 6900'
- This slide remotely triggered a second slide (D1) on an adjacent slope.
- We remotely triggered a cornice from 40 ft away as we traveled further up the ridge.
- SW winds were strong at the ridge top with moderate to intense blowing snow. Travel along the ridge was brutal.
- We found some small hard slabs from the previous few days that collapsed under our feet. These were disguised by recent snowfall.
We avoided steep slopes as we worked our way off the ridge. We then felt comfortable skiing steeper pitches one at a time.
Most instability was in the storm snow, top 2-6". Isolated softslabs 12+". Localized collapsing on hardslabs formed in the previous days on the 1/31 interface.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 15-30
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Good visability and broken skies at mid-elevations, becoming obscurred as we climbed into upper elevations. Dead calm until we reached 6000'. Winds light from SW with small amounts of blowing snow 6000'-6800'. SW wind became strong with moderate to intense blowing snow as we traversed ridge at 6900' at 1300 hrs.
Snowpack
Soft slabs were breaking on precipitation particles at density change.
Hard slabs were collapsing on facets at the 1/31 interface.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- SS
- Count
- 3
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 6900 ft
Intentionally triggered one soft slab which remotely triggered another. Remotely triggered a cornice from 40 ft away.