Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3170 m
- Slope Angle
- 26°
I got up into some bigger terrain for the first time this year. The S-SW winds hammered the ridgelines and we now have some sizable cornices on north facing terrain which isn’t typical for this time of year. Open terrain is loaded and firm. Wind sheltered terrain on all aspects was skier supportive and surfy. My sled was breaking into the old faceted snow but was still mostly grippy. My NW facing ECT failed ECTP 1 SP Q2 in 125 cm deep snow on our high and dry facets 40cm below the surface. After the failure I was able to easily pull the block off the column making it Sudden Planar (SP). In the second pic we can see some irregulars in the facets so I gave the test a Q2 sheer quality. I experienced several collapses throughout the day. I kept my distance from all steep north facing terrain today and instead kept it low angle and in and around trees.