Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3018 m
- Slope Angle
- 30°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Slab overlaying pre Christmas facets is one finger hardness while the facets below it are fist to four finger. Facets around crusts in the lower snowpack also are suspect. Had full propagation in an ECT just below rain crust, i think from Thansgiving at 50cm from ground. No cracking, collapses or new avalanches observed. It did look like at least part of the Seagull Chute apron (East face Tuscarora) had slid mid storm and been filled mostly in again. </p>
ECTP23 at 50cm above ground, just crust on 2-3mm depth hoar. HS 160cm. In photo the failure layer in test was about 15cm below the Christmas eve storm/facet interface.
Also, worth noting: I observed ski tracks likely from yesterday which showed a group of approximately four skiers who skied to the bottom of the lower roll in the trees in Wolverine Bowl then gathered and skinned up right on the toe of the slope all together. If they had remotely triggered the slope above they would have all been involved in the slide. It would have taken an extra 25 seconds to ski to the other ski of the flats and give a reasonable berth to avoid this possibility.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Overlaying slab is now a meter deep in many high elevation areas in upper BCC/LCC and consequently difficult to trigger. More than one interface facet layer could act as a failure layer. From the surface the snowpack appears more stable than it should be trusted due to a capping effect of the slab and dense, smoothed out graupel surface. Thin spots in the slab and large triggers could easily bring down large well connected slabs potentially running long and far. Remotely triggering an avalanche remains a distinct possibility.</p> <p>Winds were still up for much of the day and snow transport was observed as low as the Brighton parking lot. Winds eased mid afternoon but will only add to the cohesively of slabs along ridges.</p>
Fast graupel surface and good turns where it avoided being damaged by the wind.