Quick report
Crept back out into the cold. Left the skis behind to simplify our plan:
-The first 15 minutes of riding was pretty brutally cold. After the handwarmers heated up and the screaming barfies went away, it turned into a pleasant day.
-This area received roughly a foot of snow earlier this week.
-We found several small natural loose-dry and slab avalanches that failed during the the snowfall.
-This area seemed to have been spared from the recent NE winds. We did find evidence of SW winds at all elevations.
- We slope cut small test slopes without any signs of instability.
-Our route was choked off by a long train of hard and stubborn drifts at 7000 feet
Riding through or around the drifts seemed like more cost than benefit, so we bailed on our summit bid and made an early exit.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 0
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Temps started just below 0 and ended just above. Some low cloud giving way to decent visibility under broken skies. Intermittent light SW wind.
Snowpack
Pit @ 7000 feet, SE aspect: HS=180, ECTN down 35 cm at new/old interface. Mid-January crust-facet combo down 80cm PST 50/80 (END). Pockets of depth hoar at the base.
Pit at 6800 feet NE aspect: HS=180, ECTX
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- SS
- Count
- 4
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 6800 ft
Handful of small natural point releases and slab avalanches that appear to have slid during mid-storm on the old snow surface.