Lanham

We toured to the top of the Lanham drainage, skiing opportunistically based on conditions and eventually somewhat aggressively based on conditions. Localized cracking was widespread early while breaking trail and on wind-affected ridgelines. Early in our tour we observed three natural, overnight storm slabs from 10-11 Jan on north, all failing on surface hoar buried 15-20cm down, with the largest, a cornice failure, stepping down to the 5 Jan interface buried last weekend and entraining adjacent dry, loose snow. Skintrack tests and hand columns verified that the avalanches were failing on surface hoar buried midweek by the overnight skiffs of snow Wednesday and Thursday nights. We had a dig at 5620', finding three very clear surface hoar layers buried 8 Jan (20cm down), 9 Jan (15cm down) , 10 Jan (10-12 cm down). The 5 Jan crust/facets above were 25cm down. While the 5 January layer was very apparent in the pit, it didn't correspond to the observed avalanche and cracking interface (SH buried 10 Jan, 15 cm down). Old growth tree canopy prevented the rugged melt-freeze conditions of last week from being fully covered at all elevations, making for engaging summer trail skiing.

Lanham

Quick report

Avalanche